Character dance is a specific subdivision of classical dance. It is the stylized representation of a traditional folk or national dance, mostly from European countries, and uses movements and music which have been adapted for the theater. Yuri Slonimsky writes in his book The Bolshoi Ballet (Second edition 1960, p.8) on the history of character dance: Character dances are usually performed in shoes or boots, with a suede sole and a small heel. Men typically wear black character shoes and women typically wear a flesh coloured shoe with a larger, more feminine heel, but sometimes black shoes too.