Bills, bills

At City Ballet, Footwear Is Almost As Important As Feet - NYTimes.com

During the course of her relatively quiet performance that evening as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Ms. Peck would wear out two pairs of shoes — not unusual at New York City Ballet, whose dancers regularly go through 10 or 12 pairs a week. That kind of bill can add up: Those shoes cost nearly $100 a pair in stores. City Ballet buys 8,500 pairs a year, and has a $650,000 annual shoe budget.