Technique
Techniques revolutionalized with the evolution of pointe shoes. As remarkable ballerina's began to do more and more moves, others from competing schools strived to catch up. For example, Pierina Legnani was the first to do thirty-two fouettes on pointe, causing a huge sensation. Soon all of the Russian ballerinas from their competing school had to catch up technically.
The Painful Beauty of Pointe Shoes
Even though ballet was more difficult if you wore pointe shoes, it made it far more beautiful. It gives whoever is watching a magical feeling. It makes it look as if the dancer is floating on air, as if the dancer weighs less than a feather. It creates an illusion that the ballerina is dancing effortlessly and makes the lower body look a lot longer than it actually is. Because of pointe shoes, many dancers have suffered from injuries. Training hard on pointe shoes comes with magic, but you must pay the price of hard work, blood, and sweat. Ballerinas have a very high pain tolerance, it is said that when a ballerina dances on her toes, the force being exerted on her toes adds up to having three elephants stacked on top of each other. Dancers are forced to suffer through the pain because the beauty of pointe shoes is irresistible.
Famous Performances
One of the most important lasting effects of pointe shoes was the number of ballets it created. From the Nutcracker, to Swan Lake, to Romeo and Juliet, these were all made possible due to pointe shoes. Without the invention of pointe shoes, the performances we have today would be bland and tasteless, like a world without color. Below are the 9 most famous performances: