Spray-painted men’s ballet shoes

ca. 2016

Leather, canvas, elastic, spray paint

Each: 10 1/2 × 4 in. (26.7 × 10.2 cm)

2021.15.2ab

Donor Silas Farley spray-painted this pair of ballet shoes during his time with the New York City Ballet (NYCB). The pair tells an important story about the issues of diversity that pervade the world of professional and amateur ballet. Dance shoe manufacturers have only recently offered ballet shoes in a range of browns and bronzes to match the skin tones of BIPOC and AAPI dancers. New York-based Gaynor Minden was first company to offer “bronze” and “brown” ballet shoes in 2017, followed by Freed of London in 2018. Prior to 2017, dancers of color who wanted to match ballet shoes to their skin tones were required to purchase and apply pancake make-up or spray paint to each pair, a costly and time-consuming endeavor that can take 45 to 60 minutes. Farley began dancing at the age of 7 in his native Charlotte, North Carolina, and moved to New York at the age of 14 to attend the School of American Ballet (SAB). Like many promising SAB students, he joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) as an apprentice in 2012 and became a member of its corps in 2013. Farley retired from NYCB in July 2020 to become the head choreographer and dean of the Colburn School in Los Angeles.

DescriptionPair of spray-painted men’s ballet shoes with leather vamps and wings, canvas and leather liners, split leather soles, and two elastic ties sewn into each wing.

Markings“Angelo Luzio / 246A / “11W” and “Left” or “Right”.

ClassificationsCLOTHING AND FASHION

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