The desire to float like a Sylph across the stage on the tips of their toes is the dream of most ballet students. But where did these shoes – part ethereal magic, part torture device come from?

Here’s pointe shoe history in 60 seconds!

1730s: Marie Camargo invents the Ballet Slipper
1790s: Charles Didelot’s ‘Flying Machine’ allows dancers to float across the stage on the tips of their toes
1820s–1830s: Marie Taglioni and the Romantic Ballerinas create the art of pointe work by darning soft ballet shoes to give more support
1870s–1890s: Italian Shoes set the Imperial Standard adding newspaper and flour paste to create the box of a pointe shoe
1910: Anna Pavlova and Salvatore Capezio add leather to stiffen the soles and provide more support
1920s–1980s:The shoe again adapts to abstraction and new choreography introduced by 20thC choreographers providing dancers greater support as technical demands increase
1993: Gaynor Minden launches a shoe inspired by the shock-absorption found in athletic footwear, opening the door for other designers to experiment with modern materials to improve shoes’ durability and fit
2020’s: Racial protests like the BLM movement spur dancewear companies on to produce pointe shoes in a range of shades to match diverse skin tones.