Balletto and Pointes unquestionably mean the same thing.

The ritual act of dance has gradually become an art form and a form of entertainment from antiquity to the present day. But Classical Ballet as we know it has its origins in the Italian Renaissance of the 15th century and still bears the name Balletto.

Louis XIV, King of France, an excellent dancer and dance enthusiast, decided to found the Royal Academy of Dance.

In the beginning, male and female roles were played by men, and it wasn't until the 18th century that women began to play an important role in theatre. ballets. In those days, the shoes they wore to dance had heels and they wore court dress.

After the French Revolution, flat shoes, ancestors of dance shoes The first dancers to ride on their toes did so thanks to the invention of Charles Didelot's flying machine, which allowed them to stand on the tips of their toes before leaving the dance floor. The first dancers to stand on their toes did so thanks to Charles Didelot's invention in 1795 of a flying machine that allowed them to stand on the tips of their toes before leaving the ground.

The lightness and airiness of the performances appealed to audiences, and choreographers began looking for ways to incorporate more en pointe moments into their ballets.

Seduced by this technique, choreographers began to seriously integrate Pointes de danse into all their work. choreographies.

Marie Taglioni was the first dancer on pointe, dancing the whole of La Sylphide sur Pointes.

A few years later, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was the famous Russian dancer Anna Pavlova who mounted modern Pointes de danse similar to those we offer in our shop today.

The pointe dancing technique practised today, consisting of relevés, pirouettes and jumps, was only possible with the arrival of modern pointe shoes. They are made from several layers of thin canvas, shaped and dipped in glue. It is the glue, as it dries, that gives the spikes their rigidity. The final layer of fabric on the shoe is satin. The toe is then reinforced by 3 rigid soles, called shanks. The bottom and top soles are made of leather, and the middle sole is made of cardboard. They are glued and sewn together, along with the canvas and satin, to form the pointe for dancing. In total, it takes around 11 steps to make a pointe shoe.

There are many manufacturers of dance shoes.

We have selected for you the most innovative, high-performance and up-to-date products with exceptional expertise: Grishko Russian Pointes, Wear Moi French Pointes, Freed Of London English Pointes and Russian Pointe American Pointes.

Choosing a dance tipespecially the first is extremely delicate, the advice, the fitting and selling the tip cannot be taken lightly, and few people are qualified for this task.

Our team is specialised and qualified in Fitting Pointe ". In conjunction with our partner brands, we also offer fitting, test and training days on the different types of toe and foot.