Pointe Shoes:
The Turning Pointe in History
Anning You
Megan Yeung
Sherry Hu
Junior Division
Group Website
The Turning Pointe in History
Anning You
Megan Yeung
Sherry Hu
Junior Division
Group Website
Ever since we were young, we've all had a special kind of passion for ballet. From our little pink tutus and ballet slippers to our black leotards and pointe shoes, we've all had a great ballet learning experience. So this year, when we decided to be partners for NHD, ballet was a definite choice for our topic. While trying to narrow down our topic, we decided that pointe shoes were our favorite choice to match this year's theme: Turning Points in History.
We checked out four secondary source books from the public library as our basic starting point. They explained the functions of pointe shoes, famous injuries in ballet, the history of ballet, and so much more. We also found many websites that contained a lot of information. Later on, we conducted interviews with well-known dancers and dance teachers. We got many more books on pointe shoes and found many informational websites.
We chose the web site category for NHD because we thought ballet was a very sophisticated topic, and only a website would express that the best. All of us are familiar with computers and are interested in the constantly advancing technology. In addition, we wanted to include a variety of information that a documentary, performance, or exhibit could never contain. We wanted to provide something that allowed our audience to actually interact with. Web site design software and computer technology are one of our many strengths, so a web site was a definite choice. After choosing our category, we decided to go on weebly.com and personalize our very own web site. From there on, we've added many pictures, interviews, and more to our website.
Our topic, “Pointe Shoes,” relates to the theme, “Major Turning Points in History,” because pointe shoes changed dance forever. It was the turning point in ballet. Pointe shoes revolutionized ballet techniques, made ballet more difficult, but beautiful, and created many of the famous ballets we see today. The invention of pointe shoes was more than just a little event in the past, it is something that still affects us today, it is something that will affect us for many generations to come.