Pointe technique During each class session, a student will move on to centre exercises after completing the barre work. These exercises emphasize various aspects of ballet technique, such as turnout, pointing of the toes, and the use of ballet technique while en pointe. Dancers take pre-pointe typically for a year before they are allowed to get pointe shoes. However, it is to the discretion of the dance instructor to determine if one year of pre-pointe is sufficient or if the dancer needs more time to prepare. Dancing en pointe stresses the feet in various ways and thus can potentially cause injuries if
Bast shoe Bast shoe Bast shoes are shoes made primarily from bast — fiber taken from the bark of trees such as linden or birch. They are a kind of basket, woven and fitted to the shape of a foot. Bast shoes are an obsolete traditional footwear of the forest areas of Northern Europe, formerly worn by poorer members of the Finnic peoples, Balts,Russians and Belarussians. They were easy to manufacture, but not durable. Bast shoes have been worn since prehistoric times. Wooden foot-shaped blocks (lasts) for shaping them have been found in neolithic excavations, e.g. 4900 years old. Bast shoes were