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| Forget
everything your parents taught you about fitting
shoes! We all remember putting on shoes
and making sure we had plenty of room at the front
for extra comfort and "growing room".
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| Dance shoes are different.
These shoes are generally worn smaller than you
would your regular street shoes. They must fit
snugly without pinching or binding so you maintain
proper balance on the floor. This means that all
parts of the shoes should be touching and/or covering
your foot. If your feet shift and move easily
within the shoes, you cannot properly control
your balance or your dance posture, two critically
important ingredients to the dance. |
| In addition, loose
shoes can cause blisters on your feet and will
stretch, becoming misshapen through uneven pressure
on the material. All shoes will eventually stretch,
and for the dance shoe, this is another reason
to start out with a tight fit. In time, when you
feel your foot beginning to move within the shoe,
it is best to insert a padded insole in the ball
of the foot only to help firm up the fit and keep
it snug. |
| In closed-toe styles,
the toes should be as close to the end of the
shoe without actually rubbing. In open-toe styles,
the toes should completely cover the soles of
the shoes and come down to the edge of the front.
Actually, most serious dancers prefer that their
toes hang over the edge of their latin shoes just
a bit. The reason for this fit is that if you
have extra shoe out in front of your toes, this
can get in the way of some of your steps and some
of the movement. Also, with the latin shoe, you
will use your toes for balance and weight change
and most dancers find that easier without the
impediment of sole blocking the floor. |
| Each style of dance
shoe (even from the same maker) will fit a little
bit differently. Thus, it is important to try
on a variety of shoes to see which works best
for your foot. We try to give customers a lot
of opportunity to try on styles through our extensive
dealer network who we supply with stock, through
our showroom in Atlanta which attracts many out-of-towners,
and through our traveling to approximately 50
competitions per year where dancers can try new
and different styles. |
| Ultimately, the shoe
for you is the one that best fits your foot, meaning
that you feel stable and balanced in the shoe
and it feels secure on your foot without pinching
and moves with you - your shoe should never be
half a step behind you. |
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