The shoe makes the dancer

A short but fascinating look at how changes in ballet shoe technology altered the way ballerinas moved and even how their bodies looked.

In the 1840s, when Marie Taglioni went on pointe for a few seconds in La Sylphide, her momentary weightlessness became an icon of the transcendent power of ballet. A pair of her shoes sold for 200 rubles and was cooked and eaten by her admirers.

(via @alexismadrigal)

• ballet