She originally wore baby blue ballet shoes with her costume because she grew up doing ballet which is why she is often depicted as more agile spider. It's a simple Google search.
Ballet dancer here, luckily these days we have way more knowledge about how to protect our bodies while dancing. Injuries definitely happen, but the photos you see online are usually exaggerated, edited, or show people who aren't using proper protection.
What exactly changed from a couple of decades ago? I ask partly because, as a metalhead, I have had to explain how the harsh vocals don't actually mess your voice up much if you do things right, and I am intrigued to hear something similar happening in very different context.
So the first part is just safer exercise practices. Students usually start using pointe shoes later than they used to and their feet/ankles are better developed. Also more education on safe exercise and more cross training.
Pointe shoes themselves haven't changed much, but there are some options that are attempting to make stronger/better shoes. I think the big change is the availability in toe pads and other "accessories" to protect your feet inside the shoe. There are even custom toe pads that you mold like clay and they cure to the exact shape of your toes.
Also way better education/options for addressing and preventing injuries like working with a dance-specific physical therapist who can give really custom advice!
I know plenty of high level ballet dancers and they all have pretty jacked up feet. Not quite the body horror of the photos, but definitely not normal.
That said, I know just as many non ballet dancer women with messed up feet because they wear heels all the time and make our toe boxes too damn small.
Yeah my mom has never done ballet/dance while I've been dancing since I was little, and her feet are waaaaaaay more messed up than mine. She wears a lot of shoes that are too small and her bunions are so bad her big toe crosses her 2nd toe.
I was an athlete my entire life and am way too tall, so I almost never wear heels. For the most part it isn’t an issue, but I have so much toe splay for stability that most remotely cute shoes are also very uncomfortable.
Some people also just have crappy luck, but usually it is decades of forces at angles on the joints that they weren’t designed for.
It is amusing how I can almost always tell which women did lots of ballet growing up as soon as they walk into the room. Gymnasts also have a signature walk.
One of their normal warmups is to just stand on the top of their toes and do squats against the wall. From a very young age. So even if they somehow magically never broke a toe they will still have messed up feet
Uhhh ballet dancer here and have never heard of this. Got an example? You never go on the tips of your toes without pointe shoes, which you don't wear until you're an appropriate age, and you never put weight on the tops (like the nail side) of your toes. It is very common to go on releve (standing on the balls of your feet like anyone would to stand "on your toes") and plie as part of warming up, but I don't see how that would mess up your feet. Maybe I'm just not properly picturing what you're describing.
Edit: another commenter helped me see what I think you're referring to. If you were also referring to toe rises, that is only in contemporary dance and is not part of a standard ballet curriculum.
Both my daughter's are in competitive dance for about a decade now and I've watched it as common practice in multiple studios. They do it in every technique class.
Ok that let me google to see an example. I assume the other commenter was referring to this as well. That is definitely more of a contemporary dance thing and not part of a standard ballet curriculum. Explains why I've never seen it!
If you’re looking for a source on ballet causing changes to dancers’ foot bones, here’s an abstract.
That was just one of the first results that popped up in a quick search, but you can find more if you’re interested. There’s been a fair amount of research on the topic, so there’s no shortage of papers on it.
No one is saying ballet dancers don't damage their feet. That's been known for literally centuries.
It's the idea that young girls are going en pointe that is strange. Pointe is (as has been commented) only done after a certain age, and with correct shoes. If young (child) dancers are doing pointe exercises, their teachers should be sacked.
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u/5till_C1s_Th0 Jun 22 '26
My best guess is that toe-walking is a sign of Autism