American ballerinas renew fight for shoes in all colors

Although Robin Williams has been a ballerina for over 60 years, she experienced something completely new during her performance of “The Nutcracker” in December of this year.

Williams reported that dancing the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” was the first time she didn’t have to apply paint or foundation to her pink pointe shoes to match her skin.

The practice, known in the dance community as “pancaking,” has become a meticulous ritual for black dancers, as traditional ballet attire is designed to match light skin tones.

Despite the diversification and changes in ballet over the decades, many black dancers still struggle to find pointe shoes and leotards that match their skin tone.

Williams said last month marked the first time in six decades of dancing that she was able to buy brown pointe shoes complete with dyed ribbons and elastics.

She said she couldn't imagine buying brown pointe shoes when she began her career in the 1960s, as she was the only black ballerina in her company.

“We weren’t accepted into ballet classes, and there were very few choreographers,” she said, adding that while her presence stood out, so did her attire.

“My teacher mentioned that we were wearing pink leotards because leotards and shoes were supposed to match our skin tone,” Williams recalled. “I thought about it after she said, ‘Well, our skin isn’t pink.’ And I’ve never forgotten that.”

In ballet, pointe shoes should be an extension of the dancer's lines, or the illusion of length that runs from head to toe.

On dark skin, traditional European pink pointe shoes break these lines at the ankle, creating disharmony when the desired effect is elegance.

Ballet is also traditionally uniform, leading some company directors to have black dancers wear pink leotards to blend in with the predominantly white company.

Although some dancewear brands began selling shaded varieties of pointe shoes in 2020, many Black ballerinas still pancak their shoes.

In a recent TikTok that has received more than 1 million likes, Misty Copeland, the first Black principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, showed how she dyed a pair of pointe shoes pink with a sponge and drugstore makeup.

Despite her fame, Copeland explained that the lack of ballet shoes that match her skin tone makes her feel left out.

In September, she started a petition called “Let’s Make a Pointe!” to encourage Apple to offer different shades for its pointe shoe emoji, writing that the mismatch of shades in the emoji — and in real life — was a “constant reminder of the subtle ways Black dancers have not been included.”

Cortney Taylor Key, a black ballerina and teacher at the Misty Copeland Foundation, told CNN who studied ballet at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and danced in pink leotards.

“I hadn’t woken up yet,” Taylor Key said. “It wasn’t until I graduated that I dared to go to New York and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where I saw (different-colored leotards) and understood.”

The Dance Theatre of Harlem, known as the first black classical ballet company, debuted the multi-hued leotards in 1974 under the direction of company founder Arthur Mitchell.

“There’s no amount of money that would make me disrespect Arthur Mitchell” by wearing pink tights, Taylor Key said. “If it were up to me, I would burn every pair of pink tights I could get my hands on, because European pink is a tradition, and it can change.”

Taylor Key said she appreciates the new shade options for pointe shoes and dancewear that some companies have made available, but to get a better match for her skin tone, she still dyes her shoes.

“I learned pancaking from my DTH sisters in Harlem, where I’m from, and it really was a rite of passage for me, but I understand that it’s also equally frustrating… having to do it, it’s tedious,” she said.

The process can take several hours, and the cost of materials adds up. Pointe shoes, which often cost more than $500, only last about 10 hours of dancing, Taylor Key said. Makeup can cause the shoes to fade or wear out faster, she added.

Due to the cost of modifying the shoes, Taylor Key said she spent much of her early career dancing in “dead shoes”, which hindered her performance.

However, she acknowledged that the field has advanced, even if the available shade options are limited.

Taylor Key said Copeland's petition is “incredibly and extremely necessary.”

“It’s a shame no one came before her, but she definitely deserves it, and what she’s doing for the community now… I couldn’t be more proud to be working for her organization,” she said.