Gaynor Minden and Freed of London have recently come out with pointe shoe shade options for women of color and Bloch just agreed to join with them. While this is a huge step forward, there are still many companies who have failed to join in. This petition is created to bring awareness to this issue, and to request that more companies provide shade options for women of color.

Because no shades were provided for women of color, these women have had to either do what is known as “pancaking”, where they take a cheap foundation and sponge it on their shoes or spray-paint their shoes in order to match their skin color. Pancaking shoes takes hours to accomplish. It requires applying multiple coats of foundation at a slow pace to make sure that every area of the shoe is covered, and this is done to each pair of shoes. While spray painting is faster, it causes the shoes to become stiff, which is not ideal to dance in. Dancers go through a lot of shoes in one week so both methods can become very time consuming and expensive

Please sign the petition in support of encouraging Repetto to join in with the other companies in providing shade options for dancers of color. To show that all dancers of color are welcome. Together we will bring change!  

After signing, please share this petition! If you have a story relating to how this issue has affected you, please share as well. Your voices and your stories are important!