|
|
A history of pointe shoes is also a history
of pointe technique. They evolved together; they created each other. But
the pointe shoe itself is seldom given recognition for its role in steering
the development of technique. The Eighteenth Century saw an increased prominence
of the female dancer and the expansion of the ballet vocabulary to include
more jumps and turns. Among the other stars of the era were Mlle. Lyonnais,
famed for her gargoulliades, and Fräulein Heinel, who dazzled Europe
with her multiple pirouettes-- but on demi-pointe. Marie Taglioni often
gets the credit and the blame for being the first to dance on pointe. But
no one really knows for sure. It is established that in 1832 Marie Taglioni
danced in the full length La Sylphide . on pointe. But almost certainly
there were dancers before her who rose onto the tips of their toes. It's
even possible that Mme. Camargo had done so one hundred years before. There
are references in newspaper accounts of various ballerinas with "fantastic
toes" or of "falling off her toes". Taglioni herself most likely danced
on pointe before La Sylphide. But whoever was first, it was Taglioni who
pioneered and developed the technique and who revolutionized ballet as
a
result. She transformed toe dancing. What
had been merely a stunt and a kind of circus trick became a means of artistic
expression, a dramatic as well as a technical feat. Her grace,lightness,
elevation and style earned her an adoring audience and a brilliant career.
In Russia her fans loved her so much that they cooked her slippers and
ate them with a sauce! Taglioni wore soft satin slippers that fit like
kid gloves. They had a leather sole and some darning on the sides and under,
not on, the tip. That's all. It must have been a lot like standing barefoot.
The blocked pointe shoe with a stiff sole as we know it today did not evolve
until much later. The great Russian ballerinas of the day, Kschessinska,
Preobrajenska, Karsavina managed in soft Italian shoes,but other dancers
and students required more support so in Russia the pointe shoe grew quite
hard and stiff.Even today Russian shoes are generally stiffer, and Russian
technique calls for "pouncing" onto pointe more than rolling through, another
example of the interdependence of pointe technique and pointe shoes. Do
they pounce because their shoes will not let them roll, or do they prefer
hard shoes because they like to pounce? Or both? In any case, improvements
to pointe shoes empowered dancers to do more on pointe, and thus expanded
the ballerina's vocabulary and the art as a whole. Petipa, as a choreographer,
made great use of this new "equipment" for the feet. He made multiple pirouettes
on pointe, sustained balances and promenades and hops on pointe all obligatory
for the ballerina. Petipa's hallmarkGrand Pas requires the ballerina to
perform all of the above if not more. This is not to suggest that
Petipa's pointe work was virtuosity for its own sake. It still served a
dramatic purpose incharacterizing the supernatural, idealized woman. Odile's
thirty-two fouettés in Swan Lake are meant to hypnotize Siegfried.
The fairies in The Sleeping Beauty use their pointes to flit about magically.
Princess Aurora's awesome balances in the same ballet show us what
a poised and elegant princess she is when courted by her suitors. Because
she could do more on pointe, the ballerina was required to domore on pointe.
As choreography asked more and more of the ballerina she had to ask more
and more of her shoes. The shanks have become harder, the boxes more and
more reinforced, the platform bigger and bigger. It is said that Pavlova,
who was among the greatest of theRussian ballerinas, and who still danced
in relatively soft shoes, is said to have had photographs of herself retouched
to remove some of the tip. Although she was actually dancing on the newer
broader platform, she wished to preserve that Nineteenth Century Romantic
ideal of balancing on the smallest, pointiest little tip. Now, at the end
of the Twentieth Century, the ballerina must beextremely versatile. She
must master not only the grueling pointe work of the Petipa Grand Pasbut
also the wide range of choreographic challenges that have accumulated since
then.Choreography may call for less verticality, or for getting up onto
pointe from different angles. Itmay include endless expressive bourees
as in Fokine's The Dying Swan, or smooth, backward traveling relevés
in arabesque as in his Les Sylphides. It might require shank-breaking forced-arched
movements as in some of Forsythe's work. It might have quirky, weighted
stepsand a bent supporting leg on pointe as in some of Tharp's dances.
Or, it might demand tremendous speed and a soft, supple motion rolling
through the pointe shoe as in Balanchine's ballets. |
