These shoes are baked for dancing

These Shoes are Baked for Dancing
When ballet gets tough, the tough wear dainty pink slippers. Louise Levene from the Daily Telegraph excavates the secret history of dancers' footwear. . .

WHEN the great ballerina Marie Taglioni made her final guest appearance in Russia in 1842, a group of St Petersburg groupies paid 200 roubles for a pair of her old shoes, cooked them and ate them with a special sauce. The Swedish-Italian star wasn't the first to dance on the tips of her toes but her ethereal lightness and long, delicate lines made her the toast of Europe and set a new standard of effortless virtuosity that ballerinas would be doomed to emulate ever after

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