Beware of ballet-themed products

I'm sure everyone has seen ballerina dolls and pointe shoe-printed birthday party paraphernalia.  Young kids are often drawn to these products, and they can be really fun to play with and use for décor.  However, mainstream products with a ballet theme are often quite fantasized.  They are very different from the real thing, and if children who see or use them are involved in ballet, issues can arise.  I've seen more than one child have an argument with her parents because her leather ballet slippers are pale nude-pink instead of the neon rose she expects.
Here are a few things that ballet-themed products frequently get wrong:

1.      All pink ballet shoes are pale or peachy pink, not bright or dark pink.  From toddler's full-sole slippers to professionals' pointe shoes, no mainstream ballet shoe is brightly colored.  Barbie is notorious for having ballet slippers that are super pink (and often glittery), but most real ballet shoes just aren't made that way.  (Note: Some companies such as Grishko sell pointe shoes with satin dyed hot neon pink.  These are used by professionals for wild costumes for parts like flamingoes in Alice in Wonderland.  Shoes like these are never allowed at ballet schools.)

2.      Shoe ribbons are simple or nonexistent.  Ballet dolls and various illustrations show shoes that have thick (usually dark pink) ribbons attached, and the ribbons often lace up dancers' legs from ankle to near the knee.  I have no idea how this depiction became so ubiquitous.  It's absolutely incorrect.  About 99% of the time, flat ballet slippers do not have ribbons on them.  They are held to the foot with 1 or 2 pieces of stretchy elastic.  Occasionally dancers wear ribbons on their flat shoes for performances, but usually ribbons are reserved for pointe shoes.  The ribbons on pointe shoes are wrapped and tied just around the ankle, and the ribbons are overlapped, not criss-crossed up the leg.  Just about the only time the zig-zag ribbon weave pattern is seen in ballet is on the front of a bodice-never on the leg!

3.      Dancers wear their hair up 99% of the time.  Barbie is again notorious for performing solos and pas de deuxs with long blonde hair curling down her back.  It's common to see ballerina dolls and motifs that show dancers with pigtails or braids.  Barring the occasional character role, ballet dancers wear their hair in tight buns or similar updos on top of their heads.

4.      Wands are rare props.  Lots of ballerina drawings show dancers holding fairy wands.  Many famous ballet roles are fairies, but hardly any of them have wands (or really any props).  If the part involves doing magic or casting a spell, dancers usually use their arms to show this action.  It's also pretty common for the term "fairy" to be just a description of the character's name (such as the sugar plum fairy or dewdrop fairy in Nutcracker) and not relate to any actions she performs.

5.      Tutus are usually not pink.  There are a lot of tutus in ballet, but they are quite different from those on dolls.  Longer romantic tutus are more common than plater tutus in most productions, and hardly ever are any of them pink.  The only pale pink tutus I know of are usually worn by Nutcracker's sugar plum and Sleeping Beauty's Aroura.  The only time I've seen bright pink tutus is in Nutcracker's waltz of the flowers and some versions of Nutcracker's mirliton variation.  That's not to say there isn't a lot of pink in other ballet costumes (like the bodice of a peasant in Giselle or the unitard of a flamingo in Alice), but the vast majority of tutus are actually white.