VEGAN ACTION
Cynthia King
Vegan Dancer and Ballet Shoe Entrepreneur
By Keryl Cryer
Cynthia King has been dancing for more than 60 years, taking classes as a child and performing professionally during the 1980s and '90s. Her concerns about animals date back nearly as long.
"I was around 10 years old, and it was because of my family dog," King remembers. "I just connected that meat was actually an animal. And there were books like Charlotte's Web and some Roald Dahl stories about animals. I stopped eating meat at that point, and then my veganism came along the way."
Over the decades, King has demonstrated, written letters, served on nonprofit boards, and spoken at the New York City Animal Rights March. Still, necessity became the mother of her invention.
When King founded her Brooklyn dance studio in 2002, parents asked which dance shoes she would recommend. There weren't any cruelty-free and affordable options and—despite her inexperience—she decided to create her own. After contacting every possible textile developer, King secured 10 yards of Ultrasuede and brought them to a shoemaker to realize her vision.
"The slippers were very well received," she recalls. "My students all wore them, and as soon as I put them online, I had to find a manufacturer with greater capacity [for all the orders]."
Cynthia King Vegan Ballet Slippers is now in its 23rd year. The shoes have evolved, coming in stretch canvas and an array of colors. The soles, visible as the dancers flex their feet, are marked "Cruelty Free."
Likewise, King's dance studio is unapologetically vegan, from the leather- and feather-free costumes to the messages that originate there.
"Of course, I talk to students about what's on their plates, but I also like to find local issues, things that they directly relate to," King explains. "Recently, we did Swan Lake, and I had the swans getting caught in the fishing line, which happens at the lake in nearby Prospect Park. I try to give my students and the audience a lot to think about."
King applauds all kinds of activism, even when it isn't branded as such or seems inconsequential. "People are always amazed that I brought vegan shoes into my dance world," King says. "But there's a place for activism in everybody's world. It's just bringing the message to your own circle and industry and family, through your use of language, in what you wear, and how you eat. You never know who you're going to reach and in what way."
Website: cynthiakingdance.com
Facebook: facebook.com/cynthiakingdancestudio
Instagram: instagram.com/cynthiakingdance
Keryl Cryer is an editor for Vegan Journal. A New Orleans native who moved to Baltimore to earn her master's in publications design, she has been taking ballet and tap classes since kindergarten.
