Colours of the Ballet Shoe – level 3

Colours of the Ballet Shoe

26-10-2021 15:00

Traditionally, ballet shoes are in a pink colour, which means that non-white dancers had to paint make-up onto their shoes when performing with bare legs.

Soloist at the Royal Ballet, Eric Underwood, became frustrated at wasting valuable warm-up time before shows and the marks left behind when he danced, so he went to social media to vent his frustration. This lead to a leading ballet shoe manufacturer to recognise the need for darker flesh tones and get in touch with him.

People named the colour after the dancer Eric, but more importantly, the change paves the way to greater inclusion in the ballet world.

Difficult words: vent (express emotions freely), flesh (skin), pave (to prepare, to make things easier), inclusion (including everybody, not letting only some people do something).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.

Do you think ballet shoes should come in more colours?

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