Eliza Gaynor Minden

Ballerinas started wearing point shoes in the late 19th century. Despite advancements in the dance world, the construction of toe shoes has remained pretty much unchanged. The same materials– paste, cardboard, paper and leather– are still used today, and the result is a dancer prone to excess pain and injury. Eliza Gaynor Minden, a former dancer, designed a more modern, longer lasting point shoe to address this stress.

Eliza explains how Gaynor Minden shoes successfully overcame controversy and finally gained acceptance among the world’s leading dancers, from scratch.