Pointe Shoes

This research report examines a contemporary debate within the ballet world about Gaynor Minden pointe shoes. Gaynor Minden represents the first disruptive innovation to pointe shoe designs in 200 years. These innovative shoes reduce the severe pain of learning to dance on pointe, but ballet traditionalists disapprove of Gaynor Minden on the grounds that they dilute the pointe tradition. This report presents an opposing view through an historical analysis and the recontextualization of pointe shoes as invented traditions. This analysis shows that pointe shoes are morphological and have undergone constant reinvention throughout ballet history. Diverse inventors, including choreographers, dancers, and shoemakers, commodified and mystified pointe shoes, linking the pain of dancing on pointe with aesthetic and social values. Hence, Minden shoes do not dilute the tradition of dancing on pointe insomuch as threaten pointe shoes as markers of exclusivity within ballet.