High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A pointe shoe is a type of shoe worn by ballet dancers when performing pointework. Pointe shoes developed from the desire for dancers to appear weightless and sylph-like and have evolved to enable dancers to dance on the tips of their toes (i.e., en pointe) for extended periods of time. They are normally worn by female dancers, though male dancers may wear them for unorthodox roles such as the ugly stepsisters in Cinderella, Bottom in A Midsummer Night`s Dream, or men performing as women in dance companies such as Les Ballets Trockadero and Grandiva. They are manufactured in a variety of colors, most commonly in shades of light pink.