Pointe Without The Pain

Dancing On Your Toes

Among people who don't dance, there is lots of interest and curiosity about the instruments of torture we call pointe shoes. Only this week I lost both my big toenails because of dancing en pointe. I just taped them back on and kept on dancing! They look beautiful but they really can make you suffer in ways you never imagined!

However, there is no denying pointe shoes are iconic. A signifier of an artform wrought with pain and beauty in equal measure. Even if you know nothing about ballet, you will surely at least heard of famous ballerina's like Margot Fonteyn or Darcey Bussell. Dancers make their shoes a fundamental part of them, a seamless extension of their long lean legs.

They look pretty, that's for sure, but if you have ever tried just walking around with them, you know they aren't very comfortable. However, last season designer Uma Wang created breathtaking shoe closely based on the pointe shoe. At over $800 they weren't the price of real pointe shoes, but they did sell out almost everywhere.

With the crossed over elastics and squared off toe, they are pointe shoes without the danger of losing your actual toenails. Always a good thing, right?