alain’s dance blog

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?

When I grew up, I was encouraged to take up basketball. The reason for this was simple. As a sport, it was cheap to start - all you needed were a good pair of shoes.

As the story goes, I didn’t fall in love with basketball. Instead, I was drawn into fencing, and fenced competitively throughout my high school years. Let’s just say I’m glad my parents supported me and paid for all the equipment I needed.

These days, my main passion is dancing, and like basketball, it doesn’t take an expensive FIE-approved sword blade to enjoy. So my question of the day is this -what shoes do you wear for dancing?

My personal preference: my Adidas Rod Laver’s, designed by the 60’s tennis pro, and adopted by footbaggers worldwide today.

The common concern with rubber soles is that they stick to the floor. However, mine are worn down, so the sole isn’t sticky anymore. I like them because they give me some grip when I dance to faster tempos.

For those looking for options, here are some choices:

1. Your everyday shoes (sneakers or dress shoes)
2. Runners with do-it-yourself additions to lessen the traction (duct-tape, suede)
3. Hard leather sole dress shoes (store brand or Aris Allens)

The cheapest solution to prevent knee injuries is to buy a pair of flat soled shoes (at Payless Shoes in McGill metro for example) and to get a cobbler to glue on a leather sole. Here are the fabrics by order of traction: brushed suede, soft leather and hard leather.

Note: suede will become as slippery as soft leather over time. You need a wire brush to revive the nap in suede to bring back the grip.

Read what other dancers have to say about chroming your shoes at yehoodi.com