Question about women's shoes

[lameri]

Hello,

I'd like to know what's the name of the "rubber with texture" soles that I need to ask my shoe repair place to put to my regular shoes so that they are "transformed" into tango shoes. I just arrived from Spain and I don't know the word used here, but it's that rubber that is hard and has little dots, so that you don't slip in volcadas (for example) but at the same time you don't stick to the floor.
Thanks,

María

[Ampster]

The soles for Argentine Tango shoes are made of hard leather. You scuff them up, either with a steel sole brush, or by rubbing them vigorously on concrete.

Of course you wipe them really well before you go dancing to prevent scratching the wood floor.

[Peaches]

Don't use rubber. Don't use plastic.

Use leather, as Ampster said, or chrome leather/suede.

You want the soles of your shoes to slip on the floor. That's a good thing. If you're sliding around alot and can't keep your footing, then your technique is probably bad. And, with regards to volcadas specifically, IME it's pretty rare to have a problem with your foot sliding, but it's actually not a big deal if it does happen.

[lameri]

I know some people use hard leather, but some use the kind of layer I was talking about, because hard leather can sometimes be slippery. My teachers who are Argentine tango masters use either suede (I think that's the name) or what I was refering to. She doesn't like leather. Oh well, if somebody knows the name in English of what I'm talking about, that'd be great...

[lameri]

Peaches,

Yes, suede/chrome leather is my teacher's preferred option, but when you want to make tango shoes from any shoe, that's when she uses that "hard rubber with dots" thing I was talking about. I have a few to resole and that's why I was asking :-)

[dchester]

I know some people use hard leather, but some use the kind of layer I was talking about, because hard leather can sometimes be slippery. My teachers who are Argentine tango masters use either suede (I think that's the name) or what I was refering to. She doesn't like leather. Oh well, if somebody knows the name in English of what I'm talking about, that'd be great...
I don't know what it's called, but I've mostly only seen it on practice shoes. I'd suggest going into a store that sells them, and then ask what kind of rubber it is.

[Taniquel]

I don't know what it's called, but I've mostly only seen it on practice shoes. I'd suggest going into a store that sells them, and then ask what kind of rubber it is.
And perhaps, if you already have a pair with that same kind of sole, you could bring it to just to show them what you mean...

[bastet]

And perhaps, if you already have a pair with that same kind of sole, you could bring it to just to show them what you mean...


that's what I'd suggest also.

The only pair of shoes I have that have rubber soles are my jazz sneakers. The rubber seems to be a very special type (not the same rubber that is on tennis shoes at all), nearly indestructible, and is what I use if I am in the unfortunate position of dancing on concrete....

For dancing on regular dance floors, I almost always use leather or my recent preference is the a suede half sole. The type of suede you seem to get on a tango shoe seems grittier and tougher than the ballroom suede and I really like it.

My only caution would be if you find some one who says they can put a rubber sole on your shoes, you may want to find out what they are using. The kind of rubber you might get on an average steet shoe will grab and stick to the floor in such a way to restrict pivoting and I'd say it is pretty hard on your knees if you have to force a pivot. It seems to me much more likely you could injure yourself wearing a rubber sole.

[bastet]

I know some people use hard leather, but some use the kind of layer I was talking about, because hard leather can sometimes be slippery. My teachers who are Argentine tango masters use either suede (I think that's the name) or what I was refering to. She doesn't like leather. Oh well, if somebody knows the name in English of what I'm talking about, that'd be great...

it's true hard leather does start out slippery, but if you do like Ampster says and scuff them, beneath the hard surface it is not polished leather and once you get through the hard surface it becomes just like wearing suede bottoms again.

Some people scuff their leather bottoms immediately before even the first wearing to get it over with, some (like me) just let nature take it's course...when they are pretty much guaranteed to stop being slippery once you've used them on a couple of dirty floors. :)

[Laura]

Here's a question: what do you call it in Spanish? Maybe someone here will see the word and it will remind them of what it could be in English. So many English and Spanish words are cognates, so it's worth a try....

[Zoopsia59]

Don't use rubber. Don't use plastic.

You want the soles of your shoes to slip on the floor. That's a good thing. If you're sliding around alot and can't keep your footing, then your technique is probably bad. And, with regards to volcadas specifically, IME it's pretty rare to have a problem with your foot sliding, but it's actually not a big deal if it does happen.

As regarding slipping... yes, technique has something to do with it, but its not the whole story. There is one place I occasinally go where the floor is so slippery that even dance sneakers can slip out from under you. I actually wear rubber soled street shoes there sometimes. There is nowhere else I've danced that is that bad, so I don't know what the story is there, but it feels almost hazardous just walking around. My partner and I also do a fairly significant old fashioned milonguero "lean" which makes it much harder to keep your feet from sliding.

As to volcadas, slipping in a volcada is also about technique. For me, I usually slip when I let my lower back "break" so that my body is upright, but my legs are way behind me. Not only is it bad for your back, but its very hard to control your feet that way. When I hold my back strong (by using the abdomen muscles actually, not the back muscles) I have far less slippage on the floor in a volcada. (PS - that also makes a difference in dancing apilado with my partner)

For the recond, my preference is for suede almost all the time unless the floor is bad enough to damage them. The place I mentioned that is extra slippery, I can wear suede, but only if I have recently brushed the soles so they are textured rather than smoothed out.

A humorous story.... I used to travel with a regional ballet company as the stage manager. At one high school auditorium we went to, the janitor heard we were coming to do a show, so he told us he polished the wooden stage extra well for us. It was so slippery, you could barely walk across it! It was the exact opposite of what we would have wanted. If anyone had tried to do point, it would have been dangerous. Luckily we already knew to always carry a dance floor, so we had to offend the guy by covering his nice polished floor. I don't think I've ever seen any floor anywhere that was that slick.

[bastet]

As regarding slipping... yes, technique has something to do with it, but its not the whole story. There is one place I occasinally go where the floor is so slippery that even dance sneakers can slip out from under you. I actually wear rubber soled street shoes there sometimes. There is nowhere else I've danced that is that bad, so I don't know what the story is there, but it feels almost hazardous just walking around. My partner and I also do a fairly significant old fashioned milonguero "lean" which makes it much harder to keep your feet from sliding.

As to volcadas, slipping in a volcada is also about technique. For me, I usually slip when I let my lower back "break" so that my body is upright, but my legs are way behind me. Not only is it bad for your back, but its very hard to control your feet that way. When I hold my back strong (by using the abdomen muscles actually, not the back muscles) I have far less slippage on the floor in a volcada. (PS - that also makes a difference in dancing apilado with my partner)

For the recond, my preference is for suede almost all the time unless the floor is bad enough to damage them. The place I mentioned that is extra slippery, I can wear suede, but only if I have recently brushed the soles so they are textured rather than smoothed out.

A humorous story.... I used to travel with a regional ballet company as the stage manager. At one high school auditorium we went to, the janitor heard we were coming to do a show, so he told us he polished the wooden stage extra well for us. It was so slippery, you could barely walk across it! It was the exact opposite of what we would have wanted. If anyone had tried to do point, it would have been dangerous. Luckily we already knew to always carry a dance floor, so we had to offend the guy by covering his nice polished floor. I don't think I've ever seen any floor anywhere that was that slick.

that's so funny! The reason I have kind of stopped wearing hard leather bottoms is because I was getting tired of them getting so rutted, dinged and scuffed as to be almost useless when I wanted a slick pair of shoes. I don't worry nearly as much about the kind of suede they use on the bottoms of most tango shoes, I'll scratch that grit right back out.

There's a newer online store called malevo tango essentials, and whomever is making the shoes for him uses exactly the type of suede I like on the bottoms.

I tried a few of their shoes out, but they don't have enough padding or low enough heels for me, but the prices aren't bad.

[lameri]

we use half English: "filler de puntitos." My teacher showed me what it should look like and I remember, but I don't have any shoes with it yet. I've used leather soles so far, but she told me what I can do with other shoes.

I asked in one shoe repair shop and they didn't have it indeed, just the regular rubber, which I don't want.

Thanks everybody for your pointers :-)

[Joe]

The only pair of shoes I have that have rubber soles are my jazz sneakers. The rubber seems to be a very special type (not the same rubber that is on tennis shoes at all), nearly indestructible, and is what I use if I am in the unfortunate position of dancing on concrete....
Rubber for shoes is just like rubber for auto tires (tyres, if you're British). A soft compound tire provides lots of grip, but in order for it to do so it wears out quickly. A hard compound tire doesn't grip as well, but you get multiples more mileage out of it. The rubber on jazz sneakers is a relatively hard compound.

[bastet]

Rubber for shoes is just like rubber for auto tires (tyres, if you're British). A soft compound tire provides lots of grip, but in order for it to do so it wears out quickly. A hard compound tire doesn't grip as well, but you get multiples more mileage out of it. The rubber on jazz sneakers is a relatively hard compound.


that makes sense...give me some hard tire rubber please! :-P