Pointe shoe New York City Ballet orders about 8,500 pairs of pointe shoes each year for 180 dancers, while the Royal Ballet dancers use about 12,000 pairs of shoes for each season. Pointe shoe A pointe shoe is a type of shoe worn by ballet dancers when performing pointe work. Pointe shoes were conceived in response to the desire for dancers to appear weightless and sylph-like and have evolved to enable dancers to dance "en pointe" (on the tips of their toes) for extended periods of time. They are manufactured in a variety of colors, most commonly in shades of light pink.
Pointe shoe in preparation for dancing en pointe in pointe shoes. The toe box allows the dancer to experience the feel of a pointe shoe, while the insole and outsole work together to provide the resistance needed for developing foot and ankle strength. Traditional pointe shoes are usually manufactured using a method known as "turnshoe", in which each shoe is initially assembled inside-out on a last and then turned right-side-out before finishing. When manufacturing standard pointe shoes, a standardized, common last is used for both left and right shoes, resulting in identical left and right shoes in a pair. Some ballerinas have