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Lemelson MIT Program, The Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoe, May 10, The Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoe is a more comfortable dance shoe, that provides ballerinas with more support and causes less pain.

Invention: Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoe The Pointe Shoe was created in 1993 by a formal ballerina named Eliza Minden. This newly and improved shoe was not causing horrible pain for dancers all over the world. The Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoe last up to three to six times longer than the Pointe shoe that was being used previously to Eliza’s Pointe Shoe. (The Pointe Shoe is shock absorbent and is extremely flexible to the previous style.) Eliza replaced the uncomfortable cardboard, leather, or burlap which were typically used at the bottom half of the shoe, and replaced it with a more comfortable and advanced plastic like material that was elastomeric.

Inventor: Eliza Gaynor Minden Eliza Gaynor Minden was born in Boston Massachusetts in the year of Although she was born in Boston She grew up in South Port Connecticut. Eliza earned a B.A from Yale University, where she studied in dance. Eliza Minden was a ballerina herself, which encouraged her to invent new Pointe Shoes, because she was fully aware of the pain ballerinas went through on Pointe Shoes. Eliza went to dance camps all around the world giving very important lectures informing young dancers of Toe Dancing. In order to be positive that her Pointe Shoes, and that they would really relieve pain, she tested her shoes on many different types of floors and had over 100 different prototypes, to be sure that her shoes were reliable. Eliza Gaynor Minden constructed the Pointe Shoe by hand all by herself because she did not have a lot of money in that time frame.