Ballet Day

What the day is

Ballet Day is observed on February 7. Ballet began in the Italian Renaissance courts and was formalized in France, which is why the vocabulary is French wherever in the world it is taught.

Origin and background

Louis XIV did more than patronize it. He danced, seriously and publicly, and founded the academy in 1661 that codified the positions and steps still used today. A dancer in Tokyo or São Paulo takes class in the terminology of the French court because of that institution.

The pointe shoe is the part most people misunderstand. It contains no mechanism. The block supporting the toes is built from layers of fabric, paper and paste hardened into a rigid box, with a stiffened sole, and it works by distributing load rather than by locking anything. It is also consumable. A professional dancer can soften a pair beyond use within a single performance, and companies get through enormous quantities. Dancers prepare new shoes individually, darning, bending, cutting and sometimes breaking the shank, because a shoe out of the box does not fit the way that dancer stands.

The physical demands are closer to elite sport than most audiences realize. Studies of dancers record oxygen demands and injury rates comparable to professional athletes, with the added constraint that the effort must be concealed. Ballet's aesthetic requires that visible strain be trained out, which is precisely why the difficulty does not read from the stalls.

The art form has been reckoning publicly with its costs in recent years, particularly around body image, injury and the treatment of young dancers, and several major companies have changed practice under pressure.

How to take part

• Watch from a seat high enough to see the patterns, which is where choreography reads best.
• Look at the feet during a held balance and notice how much is moving.
• Try an adult beginner class. Most companies run them and they are humbling.
• Watch a rehearsal recording, where the effort is not hidden.
• Read what dancers say about preparing their shoes, which is a craft in itself.