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Ballet pointe shoes


The Mikhailovsky Theatre is planning to spend 2,950,000 rubles on pointe shoes for the new 2010-2011 season. Even the smallest donation will be highly appreciated.

It was not always that satin shoes with hard toes were an indispensable attribute of a ballerina, the first one to rise on her toes was Marie Taglioni. French term “sur les pointe, on your fingertips” gave the name to these ballet shoes. With pointe shoes dancing has gained special expressiveness, virtuosity and graceful ease. It is difficult to imagine classic ballet nowadays without this stage footwear.

Pointe shoes are almost two hundred years old, however, there is no such institution, where they would teach one how to make them. This footwear is 90% hand-made and always exclusive. An experienced professional can only produce 12 pairs per day. There are a lot of production secrets: the special glue, shape, only natural materials, certain assembly methods, all the individual characteristics are taken into account. A ballerina can frazzle several pairs of shoes per performance, therefore they are in great demand. Only few of us realize, how important is for the dancer comfortable footwear. No wonder they say “ballerina’s dancing is as good as her shoes are”.

The Mikhailovsky Theatre orders over 3,500 pairs of ballet shoes per season, yet this is not always enough and it is not rare that ballerinas have to provide themselves with the comfortable footwear, which they need both on stage and at the rehearsals. The price for one pair varies from 300 to 3,500 rubles, but one pair does not usually last long. That is why the preference is given to more expensive yet long lasting and more comfortable pointe shoes by American manufacturers. On average the Mikhailovsky Theatre spends around 2,950,000 rubles on ballet shoes per season, therefore any contribution will play a very important role.