Salsa City Forum » Salsa Music and Dance » Shoes!!

Hey folks... was just wonderng if there are any ladies out there that can offer any advise on footwear!!

Haven’t been dancing that long and trying to improve but I find it really hard to balance in my shoes which is affecting my dancing!! (Usually turns.) I guess I need smaller heels but was just wondering if it’s a common problem or am I blaming my shoes for not being very good!!!

Cheers!

I find it quite difficult to dance in heels, possibly because the heels that I have danced in weren’t proper dancing shoes. In any case, I am addicted to my Bloch trainers so I always dance in them (despite the fact that I look short and that they don’t look very dressy).

I’m not a lady, but if I had to learn the turns ladies do, I’d be wearing shoes like these (medium heel but regular shoe).

I can offer a few tips as well in learning turns or checking your technique.

Firstly, you want to reduce friction between shoe and floor, so those “split sole jazz sneakers” are not good for beginners. Most teachers describe this technique as “pressing the ball of the foot down into the floor (or conversely your center up)” Women with great spins become very aware of the feeling of their “center point of balance” and this part of the foot.

Secondly, watch the instructor to see where the energy of the turn comes from. If the leader isn’t cranking, then the lady supplies much of the impetus by using arm, shoulder, leg or some other part of the body.

Best turn to practice while starting:

Stand on right foot. As you step forward left, turn 180. As your right foot lands, turn the remaining 180 to complete the turn. Some call this a pivot turn and it travels.

Try it taking your left shoulder back as your left foot lands to get the turn going.

Cheers for the help folks...

I think you’re right, maybe I’ve not been dancing long enough for my 3inch heels!! They are dance shoes but I think I was a bit excited!! Think mabe some smaller cuban heels would give me better balance to find my centre and progress...

Cheers!

My personal experience is that the higher the heel, the more you need to hold your foot and ankle quite rigidly in order to retain stability. With a very high heel (4 1/2 or 5 inches) it’s almost as if you’re walking on hooves. (Hopefully like a delicate gazelle rather than a carthorse, that is!) The higher the heel, the more stilted - quite literally - you become and it’s more work to sink your weight downwards and feel a good connection with the floor.

Also bear in mind your shoe size matters here. A size 4 with a 3″ heel is at a much steeper angle than my big plodding size 8s would be.

It might be the shoe as much as the heel height, not all makes and styles suit all people from what I can tell. Do they feel stable and comfortable to walk in? Are they flexible? Do they dig in anywhere so that you find yourself holding your feet a certain way to compensate?

My dancing shoes have cuban heels, just under 2″, and I find them extremely well-balanced and comfortable. I sometimes feel a little bit of a fool, changing into shiny latin sandals before a beginners class, but I’ve never had a pair of girlie street shoes I could be stepping away in for 2 hours without respite and still feel great the way I can in my dancing shoes. I wouldn’t go back. It’s quite rightly been said before that the right shoes don’t make you a better dancer, but it certainly doesn’t hurt if you’re not struggling with your footwear as well as struggling with the dance.

Cheers Elena,

I agree about dance shoes, they’re so much easier to dance in, light and comfy. Mine don’t hurt but I know what you mean about the ‘hooves’ issue! I think I’ll invest in some with a smaller heel so I can concentrate on the matter in hand rather than not falling over!

Hazel, x

Do not buy Bloch trainers if you can help it, I know a lot of dancers use them but they are much more suited to Hip Hop dancing than salsa. If you want inexpensive shoes invest in a pair of Ballet shoes with suede bottoms or, if you can afford a little more, buy jazz shoes. I prefer ones that are split sole, suede bottomed. Unless you are going to do shows it is not really necessary to wear heels. Oh, I said not to buy Bloch because they are also quite clumsy and I discovered whilst learning that doing fast cross overs in Bloch trainers was not that easy, when I bought my first jazz shoes, under similar advice that I have put here, footwork became a much more pleasant experience.

Ballet shoes? That can’t be right, surely. What sort of ballet shoes do you mean? (Link to a picture.)

I mean normal ballet shoes with suede bottoms they sell them in most dance shops and they are great for dancing salsa also they come in more colours than jazz shoes. As with jazz shoes they have suede bottoms so are good for spinning, you can get them with a heel even, I like those the ones the ballet teachers use but the normal ones are usually split sole. And they are really cheap. Go to the bloch site and I’m sure they will have some there. Also I like to use the greek dancing shoes which also come with a suede sole however there are two types of these and I wouldn’t reccommend the ones with almost no middle in the arch of the foot to beginners as they may be unstable in them.

Another thing to remember is to suit your shoes to the venue. One of the reasons I stopped going to the Cuba Bar in Cardiff was after a couple of hours the floor would be covered in beer and (sometimes) broken glass. Not good for my shoes! And my shoes have fairly substantial leather soles; I hate to think what it would be like dancing in suede-soled shoes in that!