Pointe shoe ballet shoe had heels. Mid-18th century dancer Marie Camargo of the Paris Opéra Ballet was the first to wear a non-heeled shoe, enabling her to perform leaps that would have been difficult, if not impossible, in the more conventional shoes of the age. After the French Revolution, heels were completely eliminated from standard ballet shoes. These flat-bottomed predecessors of the modern pointe shoe were secured to the feet by ribbons and incorporated pleats under the toes to enable dancers to leap, execute turns, and fully extend their feet. The first dancers to rise up on their toes did so with
Duckbill shoe introduced to restrict all these excesses. Duckbill shoe A duckbill, bearpaw or cow's mouth was a style of shoe with a broad toe which was fashionable in the 15th and 16th centuries. This style started with Charles VIII of France, who had an extra toe and was later worn by Henry VIII of England. It replaced the excessively long toe of the "poulaine" but also tended to become impractical as it became enlarged with stuffing and horns and so could be a foot wide, giving the wearer a waddling gait. It might also be adorned with slashes to show the