Onstage during the Radical Optimism tour, Dua Lipa sashays and jetés through her choreography in knee-high Louboutin boots.

You can't go up en pointe with them. Pointe shoes are normally a bit harder so that you can get up on your toes. And men typically wear the ballet flats, and women normally wear them to warm up ...

Dancers at the New York City Ballet go through about 7,000 pairs of pointe shoes each year. That's because traditional pointe shoes break down after only a few wears. All of them come from Freed ...

Making pointe shoes for ballet dancers is a skill held by very few across the UK – and there is only one producer left in London. Freed of London, based in Hackney, has been making pointe shoes ...