The different types of dance shoe soles: pictures
You know you’re a dancer when… you walk into a classy shoe store and don’t even bother looking at the design of the shoes, nor the price. You first flip the shoe over and look at the sole.
Here are pictures of different dance shoe soles that you might want to explore, in order of least to most slippery:
1. Sticky rubber soles. Ouch! Only when I need to match a costume. These will hurt your knees.
2. Flat rubber sole shoes. My favorite for fast dancing. The flatness of the shoe means there is less grip, and so they are more forgiving on the knees than the sticky rubber soles.
3. Fuzzy rubber shoes. A mix of rubber and some fuzzy material. These shoes seem to be a hit among female swing dancers in Montreal. You can find them at discount chain stores like Wal-Mart, Payless Shoes and Zellers.
4. Suede soles (also known as “chromed”). I hope Francys doesn’t mind me taking picture of his shoe. You need to use a wire brush to maintain the suede hair, or else over time, they become as slippery as soft leather soles.
5. Soft leather soles. Less friction than suede, but not as slippery as hard leather.
6. Hard leather soles. The classic dance shoe. They are unfortunately harder and harder to find in Montreal. Most dress shoes today have a rubber heel. What you can do is get a cobbler to replace the rubber heel by a hard leather one.
Which sole do you prefer?
November 19th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
abused suede all the way! mostly because suede is cheaper and easier to find around here than any of the slicker forms of leather… i’ve also gotten in the habit of carrying a pair of peds (sort of half-socks) to put over regular shoes in case of a dance shoe crisis; they come in handy if the designated dance shoes start falling apart or turn out to be less comfortable after a full weekend of dancing.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I prefer the flat rubber sole shoes for fast dancing and hard leather soles for everything else. Since it’s too much of a pain to be changing shoes all the time I generally just wear flat rubber sole shoes if the floor is slippery enough that’d it be hard to dance super fast in hard leather. If the floor is sticky (eg, showdown this year) or if I know a specific DJ doesn’t play much fast stuff I’ll keep hard leather soles on the whole night. And then there are the days where I am able to dance to anything in hard leather soled shoes. Those are the best.
November 20th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Lately I’ve been preferring to have more traction on my shoes, particularly for fast dancing. I’ve traded in my suede Aris Allens for flat rubber soled Keds. It all depends on the floor of course.
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:21 am
Thanks for the comments!
Kait - having spare dance shoe alternatives is plain good planning, especially if you are as passionate about dancing as I am. I tend to carry a spare pair of shoes in my backpack at all times, unless I know I’m heading to the studio, in which case I’ve already got spares stored there.
Ryan - being able to dance to anything in hard leather soles is the totally the best feeling in the world. I’m still in awe each time I watch Todd Yannacone dancing fast. He makes it look so effortless. I know it’s a question of putting your weight in the right place, and I hope to be that comfortable in slick shoes in the future.
Another thing to consider is style. Skye will deliberately dance in rubber soles, and it allows his dancing to look a certain way. If you want to do a lot of jumping, the rubber soles might be a better choice.
In comps, I usually have both shoes on hand so that I can switch if necessary, depending on the condition of the dance floor.
Joanna - I want Keds too! The local store that carries the plain white ones sold out in men sizes. I haven’t been able to try them out, so I’m reluctant to buy a pair online, in case they don’t fit. Maybe next time I’m in the States, I’ll shop around for them. Especially with the Canadian dollar being worth a lot more these days.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Suede all the way for salsa. A flexible suede sole is really the only way to go if you want to do multiple spins safely. I once ended up at a club and all I had with me was rubber soled shoes… I almost twisted my ankle. The fuzzy bottoms look like they might be an interesting alternative if you were dancing on a dirty floor and didn’t want to ruin your nice suede ones.