Black Pointe Shoes
Dazzle Your Feet!
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Black Pointe Shoes are needed for many ballet productions. You will be fascinated to see how many ballets do not wear the typical pink satin of a ballet pointe shoe.
Pointe shoes are mainly available in the standard colours such as pink, and often in black or white. It is not just satin or black pointe shoes that is often needed for performance, but also red, silver, white and even yellow! Black pointe shoes are an important part of the costume for many ballet productions. Popular ballets which use a variety of different coloured ballet pointe shoes include Checkmate, Elite Syncopations, Pineapple Poll and The Dream. 
To get your pointe shoes in another colour, you can either make a special request to your pointe shoe brand or dye them yourself. Always bare in mind, they slightly shrink by using dye so you need to buy them bigger for them still to fit. I would say half or a quarter size up would leave you enough room for them to fit after the dye. Many ballet companies have pieces in their repertoire that require a different coloured pointe shoe. In a one act ballet called Checkmate, which is often performed by the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, the dancers wear black, silver and even red pointe shoes! Checkmate is regularly performed in the British ballet repetory and it is known as Ninette De Valois' signature ballet. De Valois is a vey important figure in the history of ballet and greatly influenced English ballet. Ninette De Valois established the Royal Ballet School as well as the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, which are all considered as one of the leading ballet schools and companies to be at. Checkmate is one of the earliest English Ballets and choreographed by renowned Ninette De Valois, it shows a story of war and betrayal through a dramatic game of chess. The chess pieces come to life through the dancers and the ruthless Black Queen uses her power to seduce and destroy the Red Knight. 
The costumes play a huge part in distinguishing the different sides of red and black. The Black pawns are dressed in black and grey, they wear one black and one silver pointe shoe. The Red Pawns flourish the stage all in red, even with red pointe shoes too. Another ballet which is known for its colourful costumes is Elite Syncopations, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillian. The lead dancer wears pure white pointe shoes, whilst the other dancers wear a variety of pink, yellow and purple pointe shoes. These vibrant colours in Elite Syncopations are equally matched through MacMillian's cheerful choreography and Scott Joplin's dazzing music. The piece beams to life in magnificent colours, stripes, hats and stars. It is one of MacMillian's most popular productions.
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