Perhaps no shoe holds as much fascination for the general public as the pointe shoe. While few people will wear them because of the strength and special training required, many will admire them. But the pointe shoe as we know it today was not always the dominant symbol of ballet. Early ballet, in fact, did not even include female dancers, and when they were first introduced in the late 17th century, they wore not pointe shoes on stage but high heels, which were reflective of the court shoes of the time.

Women's ballet shoes largely lost their heels at the turn of the 19th century (although heeled ballet shoes exist to this day as "character shoes" for certain types of roles and dances). Dancers had the freedom to fully pointe and flex their feet thanks to ballet slippers, but early pointe work from this period was done with the aid of stage machines that hoisted dancers into the air on wires. As pointe work began to develop, dancers had to rely on soft shoes made of layers of leather and fabric and were limited in the range and length of work that could be performed en pointe.

As pointe shoes developed, a range of materials were employed to create the hard platforms and supportive soles that allowed dancers to stand on their toes. These have included wood, which is still often used in the shanks of the shoes that support the arch, steel (which went out of fashion with the rationing of the WWII era) and today's most common materials -- layers of burlap and glue.

While pointe shoes, unlike ballet slippers, are not to be experimented with by untrained dancers, the beauty of this specialty shoe can be seen reflected in many shoe trends, including ankle ribbons and narrow, square toes on shoes of all heel heights that hug the foot. These pointe shoe-influenced designs have appeared on many celebrities including Bjork and Lara Flynn Boyle, although regrettably often paired with dresses that were fashion "don'ts."

One of the hot shoe styles for women today is the ballet flat. But, like most popular shoe styles, it is hardly a new invention. Rather,the modern ballet flat has evolved both out of the dance shoe it is named after, and the women's slippers that have been fashionable periodically throughout history.

The ballet flat takes its name from ballet, of course. The modern shoe can be described either as a more structured version of a traditional ballet shoe or a less structured and more flexible version of the pointe shoe, but constructed without the toe-box that allows dancers to elevate themselves on the very tips of their toes. There are also ballet shoes with heels known as character shoes as well as soft slippers with slight heels worn by dance teachers for comfort. Ballet flats are named as they are to differentiate themselves from these two types of ballet shoes to which they are unrelated.

While today we think of ballet as a performance art, ballet steps were once a part of social dancing. In the Georgian and Regency eras (1795 - 1825) social dancing involved many vigorous ballet steps and everyone well-positioned in society sought out dancing masters to help them perfect their form and technique. At this time, the correct shoe for a formal ball was
not today's high heel (which was also popular in earlier eras), but a beautifully adorned dance slipper, usually made out of leather. This was the precursor to the ballet flat.

These slippers weren't just for women, but men as well, and there are a number of Regency-period illustrations showing a man on his way to a formal event with his dance shoes tucked into his back pocket.

Today's structured ballet flats acknowledge the active lifestyle of women while also preserving the delicacy, dance allusions and comfort of the dance shoe from which it evolved. Synthetic materials, cloth and leather are all common materials used in ballet flats. Today's ballet flats are defined by their almost non-existent heel and rounded toe. The shoes range from studier replications of ballet slippers (right down to a soft pink or peach
color and the tiny bow centered over the base of the toes) to flats that merely invoke dance without actively representing it.

While ballet flats have often been popular in the last 30 years, it is only recently that they have become acceptable for formal occasions. While many have viewed the emergence of the ballet flat at formal events as a casual concession to comfort, this show actually has a proud
history as a part of formal attire and women armed with this history should be confident in their choice of a ballet flat for dressy occasions.