101 Reasons to Study Ballet - #30 Be on Pointe

Reason #30 Be on Pointe

Pointe with the "e" on the end means dancing on your toes. The technique developed from the desire for dancers on stage to appear weightless or other worldly. It has evolved as a part of ballet technique to enable dancers to dance on their toes. Special shoes have been designed to support the feet and help dancers stay up on their toes for long peroid of time. Dancing en pointe is part of studing ballet but not everyone who studies ballet needs to on their toes. Children should not start pointe classes until they are at least 11 or 12 years old and have good posture and good ballet technique. Never try dancing on pointe shoes if an instructor tells you to wait, as it's easy to become injured. Both men and women are capable of dancing en pointe, it is more commonly done by women but ballet is ever changing and there are companies - Men -on- Po!nte who are an all-male ballet company pioneering the development and promotion of male pointe technique . Remember it is not the shoes that dance -  it is the strong dancer it the shoes that holds the balance en pointe.
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