At the Place Where the Golden Rose Broke - Chapter 5

Pointe shoes are like $100+ and only last for a few days or a little over a week if you’re lucky. You have to cut it so it can bend, then you have to break it in while wearing it, then you hit the good spot wear it’s perfect, then it gets too worn and dangerous to wear.
Ballet actually has some messed up roots. There’s a bronze statue called “Little Dancer of Fourteen Years” that was heavily criticized way back when it was first made. It showed the reality as dancers typically were like slaves and had to do awful things to get by, like prostitution. It was a long time before swimsuits were invented and socially excepted. Ballet had them revealing their whole legs (so they could freaking move and jump), when showing a little ankle was considered scandalous.

There’s also 6 min art film on yt called “Louise” from 2021 by GOBELINS that was pretty good but sad.