Annotated Bibliography

Having performed my artifact analysis before going to the library, my findings led me down a certain path. I found myself asking questions about when and where pointe shoes first came into use. As well, I wondered how they were used and if this has changed over the years, in regards to dance and ballet techniques. I also continually came back to the issue of gender and how pointe shoes seem to be used exclusively by women. All of these quieries led me to seek out literature that addressed these areas. This bibliography represents a preliminary investigation of my topic. The literature I found rarely related directly to pointe shoes but this lack was made up for by the plentitude of literature on indirectly related topics, such as dance and shoes, as well as by historical literature, which relates to gender and culture.