Pointe shoe unfit to wear in situations other than informal practice or rehearsal. Under moderate usage, a pair of pointe shoes will typically last through ten to twenty hours of wear. For dance students, this often translates into weeks or months of serviceable use from a pair of pointe shoes. Professional dancers typically wear out pointe shoes much more quickly; a new pair may wear out in a single performance. As a result, most professional ballet companies provide shoe allowances for their dancers to defray the cost of frequent shoe replacement. The lifetime of a pointe shoe depends on many factors, including:
Court shoe pumps are the standard attire with swimsuits in beauty pageants. Pumps are also part of the costume of a ballroom dancer. They are made of satin, usually tan, though other colors are made as well, and worn on both the competition and practice floors. Court shoe A court shoe (British English), or pump (), is a shoe with a low-cut front, or vamp, and without a fastening. For the traditional formal menswear, the style is sometimes called an opera slipper or patent leather pump. The construction of pumps is simple, using a whole-cut leather top with a low vamp, lined