Tower of Royal Ballet Pointe Shoes to Launch New Competition

Yasmine Naghdi at the launch of The Royal Ballet Pointe Shoes Competition.<br />© Dave Morgan, courtesy the Royal Opera House. (Click image for larger version) — Yasmine Naghdi at the launch of The Royal Ballet Pointe Shoes Competition.
© Dave Morgan, courtesy the Royal Opera House. (Click image for larger version)

_{24 March 2014}

Tower of Royal Ballet Pointe Shoes to Launch New Competition at the Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is opening a competition to raise awareness of the Royal Opera House Foundation’s Pointe Shoes Appeal with the display of a specially designed acrylic tower containing pointe shoes donated by Royal Ballet dancers representing the number of pointe-shoes used in a week.

Each Season, the Royal Opera House spends over £250,000 on pointe shoes, flat ballet shoes, character shoes, ribbon, elastic and detailing relevant to each production. Contributions through our annual Pointe Shoes Appeal underpin the work of The Royal Ballet by helping to fund the essential costs of ballet shoes.

Yasmine Naghdi and Marcelino Sambé at the launch of The Royal Ballet Pointe Shoes Competition.<br />© Dave Morgan, courtesy the Royal Opera House. (Click image for larger version) — Yasmine Naghdi and Marcelino Sambé at the launch of The Royal Ballet Pointe Shoes Competition.
© Dave Morgan, courtesy the Royal Opera House. (Click image for larger version)

Notes to Editors

British dancer Yasmine Naghdi is a First Artist and Portuguese dancer Marcelino Sambé is an Artist with The Royal Ballet. They are the two dancers featured in this year’s Pointe Shoe Appeal campaign.

The Royal Opera House Pointe Shoes Appeal

Competition entrants will be invited to guess how many shoes are contained within the tower to enter the chance to win a pair of tickets to a Royal Ballet in Rehearsal Insight Event on 24 April with tea and cake beforehand, and a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House.

Designed by acrylic designers Talbot Designs, who manufactured the biggest mirror made for the stage for The Royal Opera’s recent production of Wozzeck, the tower will sit in the Royal Opera House until Thursday 17 April. Visitors will be invited to guess the number of shoes in the tower submitting their answers by posting a postcard into the tower, or Tweeting or Instagramming a photo of the tower with their guess using the hashtag #PointesWinPrizes

For further information about the Pointe Shoe Appeal please visit:
www.roh.org.uk/support/donations/fundraising-appeals/pointe-shoes-appeal