Dancing en pointe is a staple of ballet today, but it wasn’t always that way. Dancing on a ballerina’s toes started hundreds of years after ballet was invented. The first record of it was in 1795 with a “flying machine”, a sort of rope and pulley system that lifted dancers upward and allowed them to stand on their toes in their silk slippers. Fast forward into the 19th century, where the emphasis on technical skill increased, as did the desire to dance en pointe without the aid of wires. Geneviève Gosselin is believed to be the first ballet dancer on pointe. Her shoes were mere soft satin slippers with a flexible leather sole, and had no box as today’s Pointe shoes. She would rise and fall with these pointe shoes but didn't stay long en pointe.  Marie Taglioni took things to the next level when she first danced La Sylphide (1832) en pointe and by the late 19th century dancers wore shoes with a sturdy, flat platform at the front end of the shoe. These shoes also included a box made o...