Capezio Ballet Shows A Legacy To Dance

Dance could well be one of the oldest art forms known to mankind. The earliest form of ballet can be dated to 1491 and by 1661 the ballet form we know today was in full swing. But it wasn’t until 1887 that the ballet shoe came on the dance scene.

In 1187 Salvatore Capezio at the age of 17 opened up his first shop on Broadway in New York City. Today Capezio ballet shoes are still the shoe to have.

Capezio started his career as a cobbler repairing theatrical shoes. After doing an emergency repair for Jean De Reszke Capezio made the switch from cobbler to shoemaker. Capezio understood that making pointe dance shoes was a balance between engineering and construction. More complex than one might imagine.

In 1910 during her first US tour Anna Pavlova purchased Capezio pointe shoes for herself and all of her cast members. This was the beginning of Capezio's success.

As his business and success spread world wide, he began to share his secrets with family members closest to him. This sharing allowed for his business to continue to grow and by 1930 Capezio ballet shoes were dancing across theater stages around the world.

In 1941 Claire McCardell featured the ballet shoe on the runway which resulted in large stores like Neiman Marcus to begin to carry Capezio shoes. By 1949 the ballet shoe trend was so vogue it was featured on the cover of the Vogue fashion magazine. In 1952 Capezio received the Coty Fashion Award.

When Capezio retired he left behind a gift and a legacy to the dance community. Family members continued the commitment to the making of find dance shoes and today Capezio ballet shoes are still going strong as well as a variety of other dance shoes.

Capezio has also moved into the ice skate market when in 1998 they established Skatewear worn by Olympic Gold Medalist Tara Lipinski. The same year they also established Dancesport for the 2000 Olympics Ballroom dancing.

Capezio remains in the forefront of dance shoes blending tradition and technology. Innovations like the Dansneaker which has a split sole and a stretch insert, or the Tapsneaker. In addition they continue to supply quality dance shoes and ballet shoes to professional dancers around the world.

They are responsible for providing hand crafted dance shoes to the dancers in The Lion King, Cats, Bamum & Bailey Circus, Ringling Brothers Circus, Disney World, and Disneyland.

In order to dance on their toes dancers must wear pointe shoes. These pointe shoes create an illusion of floating as the dancer spins and skips across the stage. Ballerinas spend a great deal of time strengthening and training their feet, ankles, and legs. Perhaps that’s why a shoe with so little support has resulted in so few injuries.

Ballet shoes have slipped from the world of ballet to other forms of dance such as musical theater, and even jazz. And interestingly in the past few years they’ve once again made to the front and center of the everyday fashion scene.

These delicate traditional slippers have been transformed into dainty and unusual styles by designers like Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs, and Seychelles.

So there’s no need to be a ballerina to own your own ballet shoes. Fashion styles give you plenty of ballet style shoes to choose from. Add a little dance to your wardrobe!

Aura Mirchandani is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory.