IDS vs. Ray Rose vs. Aida Latin Shoes

I did a picture comparison because I happened to have the three brands (although I just donated the non-aida pairs).

My street shoe size is abot 8.5 (us)

All shoes are 2.5 inch heel.

Aida - style 070E (square toe) wide size 24.5 (what I currently dance in - LOVE except the straps/satin wear *Fast*)

IDS - Flavia, size 5 wide ("elite" heel)...a 5.5 size would have been the correct fit.

Ray Rose - Kalahari - size 5.5 (slim heel) regular fit (wide is not available in slim heel).


You can see IDS is *extremely narrow*...i can't even get myself into their extra-wide standard shoes :-/

Also (random note) i've had problems in the past dancing in Kalaharis where the slim heel actually broke inside the satin, at the most narrow point. This happened with more than one pair. I think the heel-shape design isn't optimal (or i'm a "heavy" dancer LOL).


IMG_3814.JPG IMG_3815.JPG IMG_3816.JPG
 
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That's quite useful - thanks for posting those comparison photos.
When I first ordered my Aidas I ordered the round toe but I'm wondering if I should have ordered the square toe instead. I wish I had a side-by-side photo for comparison of that. I put my shoes in the mail yesterday for the exchange; hmm, maybe time to contact the vendor again.....
 
I'm glad it helped. I ordered my first pair of Aidas with a regular toe and it wasn't a good fit for my foot shape. But the square-toe is... so good that now the other brands feel a bit too narrow. And the side-by-side comparison, the Aida is quite square. Guess I have square feet LOL

Every brand obviously has it's variations but it can be so hard when you have to order online and make guesses!
 
Let's talk slim vs. flared heels:

When I started dancing, a slim type heel was all you could get. When flares came out, I switched and thought they were hugely more stable than the slim due to the increased area.

However, the Aida US site references the "Optional Slim heel design for exceptional balance" of the Karinas.

One of the reasons I am planning to move away from the Ray Rose, as I noted above, is that the heel is set too far back and is not centered under my heel. (By contrast, my Stephanie standard shoes have a beautifully centered heel - too bad they are a little too wide)

Does anyone know whether shoe mfrs place the heel in a different location depending on slim vs. flared? Is this brand-dependent?

Any other pros for slim heels other than the appearance?

Thanks!

Sania
 
I recently moved from a Supadance 3 inch flare to Aida 3 inch slim heel. I find the Aida, even in the slim heel, is far easier to keep on balance because of where the heel is placed. you can get Aida's with flared heels, but the slim looks awesome and i feel more stable than i was in the Supadance.
 
Yeah i think that even the same model will have the heel set a bit farther back with the flare than the slim. I'm not 100% sure but from what I see (a local dancer has Aida with flare heel, same model as me but her feet are considerably smaller).
 
Any ideas for brands that work if you have a foot that's wide at the ball, but narrow at the heel? I'm dancing in Supas right now, and I can compensate in the latins, but I'm sliding around in the heel area like mad in my standard shoes, and it's making life a beast for heel turns. They're tight but comfortably so around the ball. However, I can easily get two fingers width between my heel and the side of the shoe. For whatever reasons, the Latin shoes don't have that much space, but it's still looser than I'd favor.
 
I did a comparison between my two standard shoes - same size but one with flare, and one with slim. I'm not sure why I ordered flare (i never usually dance in flare) but i did. The next pair I ordered i went for slim, and i definitely prefer the feel (and look) of slim. You can noticeably feel that the heel placement is different in the two (I only just started breaking in the white pair).

So I would probably assume that the same holds true for the latin. From what I can see it looks like the same type of difference but I haven't done a side-by-side comparison of two of the same models/sizes.

standard aida 1.jpg standard aida 2.jpg standard aida 3.jpg
 
MyssMyst said:
Any ideas for brands that work if you have a foot that's wide at the ball, but narrow at the heel? I'm dancing in Supas right now, and I can compensate in the latins, but I'm sliding around in the heel area like mad in my standard shoes, and it's making life a beast for heel turns. They're tight but comfortably so around the ball. However, I can easily get two fingers width between my heel and the side of the shoe. For whatever reasons, the Latin shoes don't have that much space, but it's still looser than I'd favor.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I've only recently switched to Aida for Standard but I think the heel cup would probably be too loose for you. I have probably "average" heel size (LOL ?) and i find the heel a tad on the loose side, but only slightly. Definitely looser than my previous Supadance pair.

I don't know if there are any brands where you can specifically order a more narrow heel cup?
 
Miss Silly said:
Hmm... I've only recently switched to Aida for Standard but I think the heel cup would probably be too loose for you. I have probably "average" heel size (LOL ?) and i find the heel a tad on the loose side, but only slightly. Definitely looser than my previous Supadance pair.

I don't know if there are any brands where you can specifically order a more narrow heel cup?
Click to expand...

Ray Rose offers a medium+ fitting for latin which sounds like what she's describing, but it looks like they don't offer the same for standard.

In other news, the exchange rate drop makes their shoes way more affordable than they were two years ago when I last bought a pair! Just spent way too much time at work eyeing their new men's offerings.
 
Miss Silly said:
I did a comparison between my two standard shoes - same size but one with flare, and one with slim. I'm not sure why I ordered flare (i never usually dance in flare) but i did. The next pair I ordered i went for slim, and i definitely prefer the feel (and look) of slim. You can noticeably feel that the heel placement is different in the two (I only just started breaking in the white pair).

So I would probably assume that the same holds true for the latin. From what I can see it looks like the same type of difference but I haven't done a side-by-side comparison of two of the same models/sizes.

View attachment 2963 View attachment 2964 View attachment 2965
Click to expand...

Miss Silly

thanks so much. That is very helpful - but it is a mystery to me why the heel placement would change just because they are providing more surface area...
 
MyssMyst said:
Any ideas for brands that work if you have a foot that's wide at the ball, but narrow at the heel? I'm dancing in Supas right now, and I can compensate in the latins, but I'm sliding around in the heel area like mad in my standard shoes, and it's making life a beast for heel turns. They're tight but comfortably so around the ball. However, I can easily get two fingers width between my heel and the side of the shoe. For whatever reasons, the Latin shoes don't have that much space, but it's still looser than I'd favor.
Click to expand...

I use Ray Rose Rockslides, which have a rounded toe and therefore more room at the ball of the foot. (My feet are quite wide across the toes, narrow to regular heel)

The only thing I don't like about them, and the reason that the search for the perfect standard shoe continues, is that I feel they have too much padding in the sole, which makes balance a little more work. (too much 'squish')

I also have a pair of Stephanie standard shoes with a round toe. They are very nicely made, have beautiful heel placement and not too much padding in the foot, but they became a little too wide for me as soon as they broke in.

(On a side note, I am contemplating trying their Elite latins)
 
MyssMyst said:
Any ideas for brands that work if you have a foot that's wide at the ball, but narrow at the heel? I'm dancing in Supas right now, and I can compensate in the latins, but I'm sliding around in the heel area like mad in my standard shoes, and it's making life a beast for heel turns. They're tight but comfortably so around the ball. However, I can easily get two fingers width between my heel and the side of the shoe. For whatever reasons, the Latin shoes don't have that much space, but it's still looser than I'd favor.
Click to expand...

That is a huge amount of extra space, so I'm not sure this will work. I sometimes have to put multiple heel pads in my shoes and I do not do it symmetrically. I would have to look, but I think I put more on the outside to push my foot towards the inside of the shoe. I don't think this is great--I would much rather have shoes that fit me well, but it's the best I seem to be able to do.
 
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