Annotated Bibliography
"Gasparo Angiolini (Italian Choreographer and Composer)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.
Citation: "Pointe Shoes: A Revolution in Ballet." Pointe Shoes: A Revolution in Ballet. N.p., 05 July 2009. Web. 9 Feb. 2013.
Quote: “From this point forward, ballet dancers abandoned heeled shoes and heavy costumes in favor of lighter, flat-soled slippers, Pointe shoes, and flesh-colored tights that allowed performers more freedom”
Summery: This site talks about the invention of the point shoe. It explains the ideas around the point shoe, and what inspired the invention. This invention had changed many things. It created a whole new type of dance and allowed new ballet steps to be created also. This site talks about the importance of the invention and gives specific examples of the changes it made. It also talks about the point shoe itself. It talks about the fit of the shoe. The fit of a point shoe is extremely important. If it doesn’t fit right the dancer can face serious injuries and mass amounts of pain. It talks about how the point shoes are manufactured, and how there durability and the affects that they have on the dancers feet. They talk about the accessories that are made for the shoe also, and how they all contribute to the dance in all different ways.
Analysis/evaluation: This site gives a very detailed description of the invention of the Pointe shoe. It gives many different topics of the invention. It clearly covers all aspects of the invention; how it changed the art, the physical description of the shoe, the story behind the invention, and the effects it has on the dancer.
Applicability: This site would be applicable to someone who is researching the physical advances the point shoe gave, and the ideas and reasons of the invention. It also would be good if someone were researching the fit and parts of the shoe itself.
Citation: Minden, Gaynor. "Pointe History." Pointe History. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
Quote: “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.”
Summery: This sit gives a detailed history of ballet and the point shoe. It explains how the point shoe was developed through out ballets history and how it changed the art of ballet dance. It talks about how when the point shoe was invented it wasn’t the only thing the changed, costumes did also. It doesn’t focus as much on the technical parts of the invention but specifically on the history aspect. It talks about all different changes in ballet and how they took part in the change of the shoe.
Evaluation/analysis: This site gives a detailed explanation of the background of the history of ballet and the invention of the point shoe. It gives the specific people that contributed to the invention. The author gave examples of the dances in ballet that were developed over the invention. It gives a lot of background information.
Applicability: This site would be applicable to someone researching the history of ballet itself and the invention of the point shoe. It would give good information on the start of ballet and how it evolved into things like the point shoe and many other advances in the art.
Citation: Fischer, Suzanne. "Ballet Shoes and Ballerinas as Technology: A History En Pointe." The Atlantic. N.p., 7 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Quote: “George Balanchine used Pointe shoes to remake the bodies of his dancers into interchangeable machines.”
Summery: This site gives more about the construction and the fit of the shoe more then what it did. It talks about how shortly after the Pointe shoe become public, George Balanchine, recreated the shoe. George Balanchine was the director of the New York City Ballet. You could say that the roughness and pain of point shoes possibly derived from Balanchine’s shoe. The shoe fit in a way that completely took control of the condition of the feet. Dancers feet were shaped into the shoe, new muscles in the leg were forced to be used. Georges shoe caused dancers to start spending less time dancing and more time tending to their shoes and feet.
Evaluation/Analysis: This site does go very far into the social effects of the shoe, but focuses more on the physical. It gives a good description of the affects the shoes have. It was clear and had a very strong opening. It does a very accurate job describing the body of a point dancer.
Applicability: This site would be applicable to someone who is researching the physical affects of the point shoe, and or the creation of George Balanchine’s shoe. It gives good specific information about the affects on the body.
Citation: Minden, Eliza G. "Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoes » All About Pointe - History of Pointe." Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoes » All About Pointe. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2013.
Quote: “Pointe dancing was not just another virtuosic feat like the first entrechat quatre was, it was a means of enhancing the drama by extending the female character.”
Summery: This site summarizes ballets turning points all the way up the 21st century. The first turning point happened around 1730. At this time women started rebelling against their costume’s that restricted their dancing ability. They started to wear lighter clothing. Two women who led this in big ways were Marie Sallé and Marie Ann Cupis. Marie Sallé let her hair down for a performance and didn’t wear her traditional corset or the overpowering dress that went alone with it. Marie Cupis broke off the heels from her shoes, allowing her to jump and turn higher and faster. The next turning point was the point shoe, which they described as having the same result as the rebel. It allowed women more freedom and grace.
Evaluation/Analysis: This source gives a clear description of the main turning points in the history of ballet. It gives specific examples of people that played big roles in these turning points; these examples back up the events very well. It is ordered in chronological order, which makes finding a specific event easy.
Applicability: This source would be useful to someone researching the historic events in ballet. It describes also what each of these turning points did to society and how they affected the dance. This site would also be applicable to someone researching the affects of the turning points.
Citation: Author: University of California
http://acsweb.ucsd.edu/~liw013/CSE3/Lab2/MyInterest..pdf
Quotation: “This lightness and ethereal quality was received well by audiences who especially liked when a dancer lingered on her toes. Due to this, choreographers looked for ways to incorporate more Pointe work into their pieces.”
Summery: This site talks about how ballet started and how point was evolved. It presents the idea of lightness (which many sources do) that the point shoe gives. It describes the point shoes changes and growth. It talks about how WWI changed the relationship between dancer and shoe. During WWI there wasn’t enough money to make the supplies for new Pointe shoes. Dancers had to use their old shoes, which was painful. Dancers started to have to strengthen their legs ankles and feet to have enough support.
Evaluation/Analysis: This site gives a clear overview of the changes in the Pointe shoe and the development in the shoe. It focuses specifically on the important events, which makes the source have very interesting information.
Applicability: This site would be useful for someone seeking information on the way Pointe was evolved and its technical changes. It would be applicable if one was researching the physical changes to the shoe and the things that caused them.
Citation: Bezek, Sarah. "A Brief History of Pointe Shoes and Ballet." Suite101.com. N.p., 26 Aug. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2013.
Quotation: “As ballet progressed from a dance of social interaction into a codified form of theatrical dance (which happened in the late 1500s), the shoes were transformed as well.”
Summary: This source gives an explanation of how the Pointe shoe evolved. It talks about how the shoe was constructed in the early 1800’s and how it is constructed now. It says that before the Pointe show was created dancers used to stuff fabric into the toes of the shoes allowing them to stand on their toes. Dancers took the heels off of the ballet shoes in order to change the shoe into a point shoe. It gives specific examples of the leading dancers in the change of the shoe.
Evaluation/Analysis: This site gives its information in a very understandable way. It is easy to understand, and I was able to collect clear information about the physical differences of the Pointe shoe now and the first Pointe shoes.
Applicability: This site gives information briefly on how the shoe evolved, but mostly the construction of the shoe early on in its development. If someone was researching the difference between the shoe now and the shoe then, this site would be a very applicable source.
Citation: "Pointe Ballet COLOR="#333"Pointe Shoes in HistoryCOLOR="#999"" Pointe Ballet. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
Quotation: “It is true to say that ballet today would have a totally different look and feel without Pointe shoes. Pointe shoes have become the trademark for every ballerina and the signature item for each ballet performance.”
Summary: This source gives a brief description on the early stages of the construction of the shoe, and its main manufacturers, like Italy. It also talks about the important dancers that took part in the evolution of the Pointe shoe, like Anna Pavlova and Marie Taglioni. Marie’s fans loved her so much that they cooked her Pointe shoes and ate them. It talks about the.
Analysis/Evaluation: This source gives clear information on the early construction on ballet shoes. It is very understandable and gives good examples of manufactures and people that contributed to the development of the shoe, which makes the source reliable.
Applicability: This site would be helpful to someone researching the early stages in the development in the shoe. It would also be applicable to someone researching people who contributed to the development of the point shoe and what they did to help.
Citation: Anderson, Jack. "Chapter 3, The Birth of Ballet." Dance. New York: Newsweek, 1974. 27-41. Print.
Quotation: “By the time of the Revolution ballet was attracting a wider public, and choreographers, looking beyond classical mythology, started borrowing themes from country life.”
Summary: This chapter about the creation of ballet and how it changed and evolved. It talks about the changes in style, like the Pointe shoe and costumes, and it talks about the change in women’s role. It mentions the first ballerinas and what they did for ballet. It has lots of detail on the important moments in ballets history.
Analysis/Evaluation: This chapter gives very clear and detailed information. It includes many pictures (primary sources) making this chapter a very reliable source. This chapter was very helpful to me in finding primary sources.
Applicability: This chapter would be applicable to someone researching the start of ballet and how ballet was born. It also be helpful to someone looking for primary sources and or the important events that happened in ballets history.
Citation: Homans, Jennifer. Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet. New York: Random House, 2010. Print
Quotation: “Ballet it seemed was another world.”
Summary: This Book describes the evolution of ballet from a dancer themselves. It gives in-depth stories about ballet and dance. It’s a historical book but also tells amazing stories. It talks about all the different nations and how each nation’s style of ballet is different. It talks about the origins of ballet and how it started.
Evaluation/Analysis: this book gives the history of dance. Almost the whole book is a primary source, because the information is first hand from a dancer. IT gives primary sources which make the book very reliable.
Applicability: This site would be applicable to someone that was researching the history of ballet and or the perspective of ballet from a dancer. It gives great primary sources and would be helpful to someone looking for photos of ballets history.
Citation: PETER BRINSON RSA Journal , Vol. 137, No. 5399 (October 1989), pp. 693-703
Quotation: “We need to take into account, for example, the role of dance as a regular part of the education of young people in the polite societies of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries-a schooling of the body in its movements and manners.”
Summary: This site gives a background on the history of ballet. It talks about the important events that took place in ballets history and how it evolved into what it is today. It also talks about the effects that ballet had on society. It talks about the social impact and other impacts also.
Evaluation/Analysis: This source is written for students. It is written to teach. This makes it very understandable and easy to get information out of it. It gives clear examples of the events it talks about and gives names of the people that contributed to the evaluation. These primary sources make the site a reliable source.
Applicability: This site would be applicable to someone researching the history of ballet and the effects it had on society. If someone was researching about the people that contributed to the evolution this site gives specific examples of these people.