Dance

These beautiful pink satin shoes were made in Paris and were worn by a famous performer called ‘Mistinguett’ who also performed at Moulin Rouge frequently. Her real name was 'Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois'. She was the most famous and well paid female cabaret artist in the world at the height of her career. Music artists in the twenties were in high demand due to the explosion of new music and rebellious culture of new fashions and leisure activities. As a result, the most famous, beautiful and accomplished people could earn a lot of money and travel the world. At a time when many women and men were still in service as maids and footmen or stuck in factories working long hard days with bad living conditions, performer’s lives were very much envied. These are the pink shoes which thousands of Edwardians wanted to be in…

Music hall was a form of entertainment which was very popular in the Victorian era and the first part of the 20th Century. It had a huge variety of performers from ventriloquists to acrobats or comedians who mocked politicians, foreign countries and the royalty of the day. People from the local area would come to meet there and drink for a short or long amount of time. People crammed in and small music halls could squeeze in thousands of people on a popular night. Famous actresses and variety act performers were the celebrities of the day.

General Tom Thumb was the stage name for Charles Stratton who was a little person from America who found fame by doing his impersonations and comedy acts. He became a very wealthy man and toured the world. He performed for Queen Victoria twice and was trained by his distant relative, circus pioneer P. Barnum. These are his little boots from his Napoleon act and would have travelled far and wide with him.

These red dancing clogs would have echoed round many a music hall and were used by placing a coin in the heel and tapping the shoe to make a noise. They date to 1910, just before the First World War. Sometimes, Victorian music hall performers would play at up to ten different music halls

a night and would criss-cross busy cities to get to

all the music halls at different times to earn a living.

These ballet shoes belonged to the ballerina ‘Ulanova’ when she performed Juliet’s part in the ballet Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden in London on 27th October 1956 as part of the Bolshoi Ballet Company. (That is her in the picture). This isn’t the whole story however as these were the first performances by the Russians in London. It was not until the controversial Russian leader Joseph Stalin (who had worked with Adolf Hitler) had died, that cooperation was possible. This meant that these shoes performed as part of the beginnings of better relationships between Russia and England after the dangerous Second World War opposition.

With thanks to

The Shoe Collection, Northampton Museums and Art Gallery

These are Margot Fonteyn’s ballet shoes. Margot Fonteyn was born just after the First World War in 1919. She was a famous ballerina who performed with the English Ballet. When she was just four years old she started classes and when she was eight she moved to China for six years where she studied ballet further. When she was just 14 she moved back to London and started her ballet career. Margot was soon prima ballerina for performances and performed throughout World War Two. People during the war desperately needed their morale boosting and going to a performance, although risky due to air raids, was extremely popular as people were desperate to escape their daily wartime routine and not think about their hardships, even if just for a couple of hours.

These big boots were worn by a performer called Joseph Fredericks who performed the ‘big boot dance.’

In William Shakespeare’s day, it is famous that men played all the parts, including those of women. Pantomine also has a long tradition in that a girl plays the part of the principal boy. These red boots would have been worn in a pantomime of Dick Whittington by a girl playing Dick. They date from 1890, a time when Pantomine was really popular. By 1900, pantomime had become so popular that it could last as long as five hours and were very elaborate with many scene and costume changes. Sometimes up to 600 actors would perform in one pantomime and on one night. The Victorians loved illusion and magic so it is likely that these boots were worn by an actor who spent a lot of time scrambling in and out of trap doors and behind curtains to the delight of the audience of all ages.