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Selecting the right Dance Shoes
Wearing the right
shoes will allow you to get the best experience from the dance
classes. They need not be professional dance shoes, however
some suggestions include:
- Soles:
Ideally, the soles should be suede leather (soft brushed leather),
hard leather, hard plastic/rubber.
- Open Heels:
To ensure that you don't step off the heel while dancing, you
usually want a full shoe around the heel. You can
use an open heel, if the straps keep your heel firmly set on the
heel of the shoe.
- Heel Height:
For "official" ballroom dancing, women wear 3" heels for the
European dances, and 2" heels for the Latin dances. Heels can
help in getting the stretch that we want in the European
dances, and to be up on the toes for the turns and spins we do
in all forms of ballroom. We recommend that women do not wear
heels substantially higher than what they are used to. If you
almost never wear shoes with heels, look for a 1" to 1 1 / 2 "
heel. If you're used to heels, go with a 2", or maybe 2 1 / 2
" heel. In most cases, you'll be doing a variety of dances,
and anything higher than that is inappropriate for some
rhythms. Never buy anything more than 1/2" higher than heels
you've previously worn -- the dance floor is not the place to
be learning how to walk in high heels!
The following are
examples of various dance shoes.
Excellent
  
 
Good
 
Poor
     
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