User:ElsieSheppard/Pointe shoe

The exterior of a pointe shoe is covered with fabric, thus concealing the box and other internal structural elements and lending an aesthetically pleasing look to the shoe. Most pointe shoes are covered with satin, but some are available with canvas exteriors. Pointe shoes are most often available in light pink colors and less commonly in black and white. In recent years, pointe shoes have also become more diverse in color. For example, many pointe shoe makers, like Bloch, offer pointe shoes in various skin tones ranging from light pink to deeper browns to suit darker complexions. When other colors are desired (e.g., to match a costume), pointe shoes may be dyed or, if available, ordered in custom colors.

Different pointe shoe makers offer different strengths of shank. For example, Grishko, a Russian pointe shoe company, offers various shank strengths such as super soft, soft, medium, hard, and super hard. The strength of the shank mostly depends on the arch and strength of the dancer’s foot. If the dancer has a strong and flexible arch, they would need a hard or super hard shank to support the foot while en pointe properly. If the dancer is starting pointe and has weaker feet, a super soft or soft shank would be more suitable, allowing the dancer to pointe their foot more easily. Additionally, dancers will sometimes wear different pointe shoe models for different performance pieces. In such cases, the choreography can dictate the type of shank required; a lyrical style may call for a softer shoe, while an aggressive style with many turns is more easily performed in a hard, stiff shoe.

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.

Dancers typically "break in" new pointe shoes to reduce or eliminate the discomfort they commonly cause. Typically this is done by performing relevés that flex the boxe and shank in a natural manner, thus causing the box shape and shank flex points to adapt to the dancer's feet. Various other methods have been employed for breaking in pointe shoes, including deforming them with hands or against hard surfaces, striking them on hard surfaces, and moistening or heating the boxes to soften the glues, but these methods typically are ineffective as they do not cause the shoes to conform to the feet and also may damage the shoes or shorten their usable lifetimes. Pointe shoes usually are only broken in by professional dancers who use pointe shoes for multiple hours every day. Non-professional dancers and dancers beginning to learn pointe typically do not break in their pointe shoes by hand so that they last longer.

In the course of normal use, there are three predominant types of wear on a pointe shoe that will determine its useful lifetime. The most important of these is shank wear. As the body of the shoe is repetitively flexed, the shank gradually weakens and loses its ability to provide support. A pointe shoe is no longer serviceable when the shank breaks or becomes too soft to provide support. The second is the softening of the box and especially the platform on which the dancer balances. When a pointe shoe has been worn to the point where it is no longer safe to wear, the shoe is typically referred to as “dead.”