The Red Shoes at Northampton Museum and Galleries

Red shoes often suggest obsession or anger. The pair of gorgeous red satin ballet pointe shoes on exhibition at the Northampton Museum suggested anything but that. 

An unused pair of shoes from the 25 pairs made up for the 1948 film, The Red Shoes, Freed demonstrates the pure luxury and flamboyancy of the theatre in a single pair of ballet pumps. Moira Shearer used almost all of the striking pairs during rehearsals and the filming.

In contrast to the generic pale peach satin pumps worn by almost every ballerina from their very first pair to those that adorned the feet of many prima ballerinas from Anna Sobeshchanskaya who danced as the first Odette in the Original 1877 production of Swan Lake right up to Marianela Nunez in the most recent ballet.

Anna Sobeshchanskaya 1877 

The stunning red satin is extremely eye catching and despite the colour being known for inducing anger and violence as a perfect specimen of expertly made footwear.

The film, an interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's Macabre fairy tale, explains the decision of the heroine (Vicky, played by Shearer) to dance instead of settling down into married life and results in uncontrollable dancing which eventually results in her death. Not the most 'fairy tale ending' but clearly a popular interpretation 

Moira Shearer's performance and red hair have made the film and ballet extremely famous and it turned over $5 Million in the box office alone after its release in September 1948.

I Imagine that every little girl wishes to be a Ballerina when they grow up. (I definitely did.) However I imagine that the iconic shoes are not red as those are clearly for a select few who aim to make history with their dancing and shoes. 

The Northampton Museum and Galleries make an amazing display of the wonderful shoes and should definitely invest in a greater selection of ballet shoes so that every little girl visiting can have something to aspire to be.