Colored shoes in Standard?

hamstersphere

hamstersphere

New Member
OK, so I know that it's gospel to wear tan/flesh shoes for reasons of extending the leg line, keeping eyes from noticing the bad aspects of your footwork, etc etc. But ... I'm dancing syllabus Standard in a comp coming up, wearing a dress that's essentially black, and my usual flesh satin shoes just look slightly dumb and really obvious against all the darkness of the dress. (Also, it being syllabus, I can't add visual distractions in the form of stones. Bah.)

My usual practice shoes are ordinary black leather court shoes (same height as comp shoes), and I'm thinking of just wearing them, but am afraid of breaking some giant unspoken ballroom law. Thoughts? Much appreciated!
 
If it's amateur syllabus, then go for it if you really want. If it's Pro/Am, wear the tan shoes.

If it were me, I'd wear the tan shoes no matter what.
 
How good is your footwork? :) The black shoes against the wood floor will make your feet very noticeable. I know what you mean, looking at the combo of dark dress and nude shoes from a fashion sense, but that's not how they will be looked at.
 
I wore black shoes once and one of the judges told me she thought of Mickey Mouse. I've never done so since :) Unfortunately, one aspect of competing is tryiing to not to do anything that will penalize you - even if it seems dumb. tan/skin tone shoes are so 'de rigeur' you will never get penalized for them whereas a judge may take objection to the black ones.

I actually think that strong-coloured shoes make your feet look larger than life and distract from the motion of your body. They work for showcases when carefully matched to the outfit but rarely do so with a standard ballgown.

I'm with laura ...
 
Sorry to hijack the thread but does any of you feel that satin shoes moves much better with your feet than leather one ?

I second the tan shoes, I don't think they look bad at all.

I really dont like black shoes !
 
IMO I wouldn't break from the normal standards. There is a reason it is a standard. What may not look right in your perception as a dancer may not be relevant to a judge at a competition. It sounds like others have pretty much said the same?
hamstersphere said:
OK, so I know that it's gospel to wear tan/flesh shoes for reasons of extending the leg line, keeping eyes from noticing the bad aspects of your footwork, etc etc. But ... I'm dancing syllabus Standard in a comp coming up, wearing a dress that's essentially black, and my usual flesh satin shoes just look slightly dumb and really obvious against all the darkness of the dress. (Also, it being syllabus, I can't add visual distractions in the form of stones. Bah.)

My usual practice shoes are ordinary black leather court shoes (same height as comp shoes), and I'm thinking of just wearing them, but am afraid of breaking some giant unspoken ballroom law. Thoughts? Much appreciated!
Click to expand...
 
I'm all for fighting the system and doing your own thing, but I agree with others here, stick with the standard shoes.
 
LOL ... fair enough, I have been schooled :) ... I had been thinking 'flesh shoes look too contrasty against dress' when I should have been thinking 'black shoes look too contrasty against floor.' Good point. I've never worn anything this dark to compete in and I think that threw me for a loop!

(And yes, there's the whole 'don't wear black' idea ... but I've been trying like crazy to figure out something that's syllabus-legal but doesn't look like an off-the-rack prom dress. At least it's silver-grey and black.) Thanks all ...
 
hamstersphere said:
OK, so I know that it's gospel to wear tan/flesh shoes for reasons of extending the leg line, keeping eyes from noticing the bad aspects of your footwork, etc etc.
Click to expand...

That makes sense if your footwork is bad.

If your footwork is good, you actually want your feet to be noticed. Shoes that match the dress color are a good way of doing that.

Shoes that match the ball gown color used to be the standard. I think the reason for the change is more laziness than any kind of aesthetics - it was a pain to get a new pair of shoes and dye them to match each time one changed dresses.

That said, I'm not a big fan of black dresses in competition, unless you have bad body lines to hide.
 
Interesting note L. I'm going to have to review the blackpool tapes ;)

Still, isn't syllabus rather more conservative? It often seems to me that the most important thing is not to be seen to be good but to not be seen to be bad. Hence, the 'safe' tan shoe option.
 
I really dislike it when the shoes a lady wears match her dress, personally. I even dislike it when Alessia Betti does it and there is VERY little I dislike about Alessia Betti:)
 
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