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Pointe shoes, also known (less correctly) as toe shoes, are a special type of shoe used by ballet dancers for pointework. They were developed by dancers to give the impression on stage that they were floating-like a ghost. They allow a dancer to move on the tips of her toes (en pointe). Pointe shoes are normally worn only by female dancers, though male dancers may wear them for certain roles, such as the ugly stepsisters in Cinderella or Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Originally the pointe shoe was made out of cloth. 729 Cloverly Street, Cloverly Towne Center, Silver Spring, MD 20905 » Ph: 301-879-ELITE(3548). In early ballets, the ballerina was suspended on wires, and would fly into a scene and skim along the stage on the tips of her slippers. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, technique changed. The Italian style dispensed with wires -- the ballerina used her own strength to support herself on pointe and perform bravura feats. At this time, the pointe shoe became the sturdy creation used today, with a boxed tip fortified with burlap and glue and a hard leather shank.

There are many different types of pointe shoe, and each fits the dancer in a different way. The pointe shoe should be tight, with only a pinch of cloth at the heel when the pointe shoe is en pointe.