Synopsis

Kate Bush plays a singer who accepts a pair of magical red ballet shoes from a mysterious woman, only to find that the shoes have a will of their own. Pulled through a mirror into a surreal realm, she encounters a strange guide and struggles to escape the spell. The video forms the title-track segment of a larger fantasy, blending dance, theatrical performance, and imagery inspired by the cursed footwear in the classic story of "The Red Shoes."

Factoids & Trivia

• The video is an excerpt from *The Line, the Cross and the Curve*, a 1993 musical short film built around songs from Bush's album *The Red Shoes*.

• The larger film also features Miranda Richardson and Lindsay Kemp. Kemp had been an important dance mentor to Bush earlier in her career.

• The short film combines six songs from *The Red Shoes*. The title track functions as its central supernatural episode, with the red shoes serving as the link between Bush's story and the 1948 Powell and Pressburger film.

• The visual concept draws on both the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale and the celebrated 1948 movie adaptation. Bush's album was itself inspired by that film.

• The song was released as a single in April 1994 and reached No. 21 on the UK Singles Chart.

• Promotional clips from the short film were also used for several songs from the album, giving the project an unusual overlap between music videos and a continuous narrative film.

• The accompanying short film was released on home video in 1993 and later became one of Bush's most distinctive visual projects, despite its limited availability in subsequent formats.