Black ballerinas now have shoes!

[ohello]

The first time I ever saw a black ballerina, I was so happy! Finally! But come to find out, all this time they had to tediously hand-paint their light peach shoes a darker color to match their skin tone.

And now they're having shoes made just for them!

I understand if very few care about shoes for ballerinas, but... this just makes me very happy!

www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/46025716/ballet-black-help-create-shoes-for-non-white-dancers

They aren't supposed to be skin colour...

Traditionally ballerinas have always wanted very pale colored shoes either to match their tights, or to (roughly) match their skin tone when they're not wearing tights. But the pale color looks funny on black ballerinas when they're not wearing tights.

And now they have them!

No... They are supposed to be all the same colour, pink, and shiny. They are supposed to stand out. It's literally not an issue. We've painted them green before to match our costumes before and put tights over them to make them look like they aren't there. But I've never tried to make them my skin colour. If you need them skin colour for a show literally everyone will have to paint them anyway.

They just made custom ones for a specific company. They've made red ones before too

They look lovely.. I love the bronze!

I'm pretty sure they have always been supposed to be average-skin colour, to be less visible - who wants to notice clunking point shoes - and to extend the leg line etc.
So congratulations to the sector on FINALLY acknowledging that not everyone looks the same. It took a while.