Engineering Better Pointework

A new device is bringing together the two somewhat disparate worlds of engineering and ballet. When most folks think of ballet, often the first thing that comes to mind are pointe shoes, which help make dancing on your toes possible. Traditional pointe shoes are still made with paste, fabric and cardboard, although some makers now use synthetic materials. But when it comes to learning how to dance in these shoes, in addition to proper form and technique, alignment is everything. A team of students at Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering has developed a solution called PointeSense, which is a smart toe pad and ankle band designed to help prevent injuries by ensuring that dancers are achieving that elusive perfect alignment. Christine Fernandez, a biomedical engineering major, and Kaitlyn Kumar, a master’s student in robotics, are both ballet dancers and co-inventors on PointeSense. They join ASME TechCast to share some insights into how they developed the device, what makes it work, and what lies ahead.