Ballet shoes

The first documented performance en pointe happened in France between the years of 1815 and 1830, 240 years after the first ballet. Before King Louis VIV founded the Royal Academy of Dance in 1661, dancers performed on ballroom floors. After…

The Risks and Effects of Ballet Ballet is an artistic dance which involves elegant movements, precise steps, and fancy gestures. With the use of pointe shoes, leotards, and determination, ballet dancers perform exquisite performances. However, before all the performances go on, difficult practices push these dancers to achieve very high standards. Ballet dancers practice until they believe they have reached perfection. Many times, this willpower causes dancers to go through terrible…

mix, and I was terrified. That day I walked out onto the stage clenching my umbrella for dear life and completed my first ballet performance without a single hiccup. The show went on. And on for fourteen more years until finally abandoning the barre for academics in pursuit of another field highly focused on the body; medicine. I will forever be grateful for my classical ballet training as I learned so much more than how to tie my hair into the perfect bun, impress friends with incredible…

Up To This Pointe written by Jennifer Longo, takes place in a roaring city called San Francisco. Harper Scott, the main character, is a professional ballet dancer. She dances with her best friend Kate at Madame’s Ballet Studio. The Plan, carefully put together by Harper and Kate goes awry. Harper constantly thought she would become a professional ballet dancer with Kate and that would be her life. Harper was not prepared when The Plan only works out for Kate. Harper has to think of a new Plan…

Keeping Me On My Toes As I watched my friends race off the ballet barre, their pale pink slippers pattering behind them, I slowly dragged behind, thoroughly exhausted after the two hour class. As if filled with a newfound source of energy, they entered the break room, where brightly colored mesh bags rested across the benches. Enviously, I followed behind them, reluctantly slipping off my own pair of battered ballet slippers, evidence of hours in the practice room. Chattering happily, the girls…

Have you ever seen the Nutcracker ballet during Christmas time? Or have you danced for years and are finally deciding to dance on pointe? Ballet has been for hundreds of years and is still important to many people today. One of the main parts of ballet is pointe shoes. Pointe shoes are worn by all of the female dancers, except very young girls. The most important parts of the pointe shoe are the box; the end of the shoe that has pieces of cardboard and fabric glued densely together to support…

“Classical Fantasy” choreographed by Jerry Opdenaker, restaged and danced by Ciera Fielding, was a beautifully done piece because of it’s nod to classical ballet. The reference to classical ballet was due to both the musical choice of a composed piece lacking lyrics, and purely instrumental, as well as her outfit that consisted of a tutu, her ballet shoes with the boxed toe to allow her to go fully on point, and lastly due to her perfection of the aplomb. In this piece Ms. Fielding used indirect…

has evolved significantly from its early years in French aristocratic court life, but no other period in its history created such monumental change as the Romantic Era. Despite the brevity of this period, it created radical change and helped form ballet into what it is today. Its impact can be seen in simple changes to costuming and theatrical innovations, which made a significant and substantial impression on how the public perceived dance. These technological advances revolutionised the…

Cunningham’s choreography from the 1950s exemplified the way in which he studied ballet to form a modern technique. Septet, choreographed in 1953, featured six dancers in traditional ballet practice clothes, though instead of ballet shoes they were barefoot. In the film of a 1964 performance in Helsinki, Finland, the balletic influences are clearly visible from the beginning of the work. In the first of the seven sections, the lights rise on three statuesque dancers in a diagonal line across the…

think of a dancer you might think of the dance line at your school, or maybe you think that anyone that wears a tutu is automatically a dancer. One of the most misunderstood aspects of dance is its difficulty. The whole purpose of dance, particularly ballet, is to look effortless. Not to appear as if you are thinking 25 different aspects and corrections at the same time. Even though you are pulling up, pushing down, closing your rib cage, expanding your chest, lengthening your limbs, softening…