Leather shoe soles? Should I do it?

Swing Kitten said:
Whatever makes you feel better! It's amazing the things people tell themselves! ;)
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You are not kidding... when I look down I see a $300 dollar pair of brand spanking new shoes, minus some glue and some leather... Its kind of like, wounds of war. An old battered soldier who is still giving his all to his nation because of personal beliefs, not caring that he can bearly walk but still holding gun in hand fighting for freedom... Now, is that being positive or just delusional? Hmmmm... No, no, don't convience me otherwise... they've been with me since I picked them up from Hospital Capizio...
 
Hey. There's nothing wrong with forming an attachment to your favorite pair of dance shoes. I'm sure we've all done that, from time to time. I know I have. I don't wear bunny socks, though. :lol: :D
 
borikensalsero said:
SDsalsaguy said:
Swing Kitten said:
Whatever makes you feel better! It's amazing the things people tell themselves! ;)
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broken + in = boriken! :lol:
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very creative... me likes that... 8) My shoes are starting to look kind a way cooler right about now...
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Anytime boriken... anything I can do to help out a fellow salsero! 8)
 
On a serious note, though (sorry folks, somebody's gotta do it. There are guests watching. :shock: ) no matter how much you love your dance shoes, there comes a point when they're no longer supporting your feet. That's when they've gotta go. Sad but true.
 
mellody43 said:
Should I get leather soles on the shoes? Is this a big mistake? Are they going to be too stiff AND slippery?! (These are salsa shoes, btw.)
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Here's what I've done with "dress shoes"... I've sanded the bottoms with a power sander to get them slightly less slippery. It's better than wrecking the suede soled shoe that are freakin' expensive.

Just pop those babies in a vice grip and run the power sander over the ball of the foot portion. It roughs it up so it "looks" like suede, but it is much more durable. I've done this with character shoes, too.
 
Being relatively new to the dance scene (5 months), I'm also trying to figure out what works best and is affordable for me.
mellody43 said:
- since I dance in a club, not a pristinely clean ballroom, my suede soles take a serious beating.
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I think it also depends on what kind of floor is in the club- if it is somewhat "sticky" you might be fine with leather soles.

I had a bad experience with wearing suede sole shoes (the only ones that I own!) to the club - it was raining and the majority of people didn't change their street shoes, so there were puddles inside, then I saw a guy loosing a piece of gum out of his mouth right on the dance floor and I've noticed a couple of slices of lemon in another part of the floor :cry:

Currently I'm about to experiment with a new pair of regular street leather-sole shoes for club dancing.

And in the mean time I'm using a pair of leather-sole character shoes for these purposes. Although, I ve read in other posts that character shoes are bad for longer than 30-min dancing and I am are VERY sensitive to uncomfortable shoes, but my feet do not feel tired in them!!! (May be mine are "new and improved" version of character shoes :D :?: - they were about 40% more expensive than the other types of character shoes I've seen)
The drawback - they are a bit too slippery for the floors at the club where I go, so I will definetely try DancingMommy's advice:
Just pop those babies in a vice grip and run the power sander over the ball of the foot portion. It roughs it up so it "looks" like suede, but it is much more durable. I've done this with character shoes, too.
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vey said:
And in the mean time I'm using a pair of leather-sole character shoes for these purposes. Although, I ve read in other posts that character shoes are bad for longer than 30-min dancing and I am are VERY sensitive to uncomfortable shoes, but my feet do not feel tired in them!!! (May be mine are "new and improved" version of character shoes :D :?: - they were about 40% more expensive than the other types of character shoes I've seen)
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Get a pair of insoles for your character shoes. :D They make them nice and cushy (especially when they get broken in and your feet start to slosh around inside. I have to do that with the pair I'm wearing right now. The leather is so stretched out, that my feet slide from left to right. :(

Supadance makes nice terry lined foam insoles. They aren't expensive, and they are so comfortable. I use them in my practice shoes.

I would have posted a link, but I can't find the doggone insoles only for sale. If you contact Showtime, they can probably sell you a pair. Just go for your English size.
 
Character shoes are great -- and the soles work really well, because they're not slippery. The main problem many people have is that they're not balanced like "dance" shoes. They place your weight over your heels like street shoes, not forward poised like ballroom shoes. If the difference in balance doesn't bother you, have fun.
 
Thanks for your advice DM and pygmalion!
DancingMommy said:
Get a pair of insoles for your character shoes. :D They make them nice and cushy (especially when they get broken in and your feet start to slosh around inside. I have to do that with the pair I'm wearing right now. The leather is so stretched out, that my feet slide from left to right. :(
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I will definitely try that , may be later though... now they are pretty new and snugg and the cushioning that they have feels fine so far.

Thanks for reminding me about different balancing of char. shoes, now I remember that I've read about it somewhere. I do not know, my goal is to become a good social dancer, I do not even own a pair of ballroom shoes :cry: Do you think I'll be fine for a while?

Another advantage of char. shoes for me- it's easy to find low-heeled ones (1-2") in stores, while the absolute majority of ballrm shoes that I've seen have higher heels. And beeing inexperienced as I am, I can't order on the web, I HAVE to try them on first.
 
I'm not a ballroomer but I don't own dance shoes... I have shoes that I dance in... but nothing fancy.

I'd say shoes are important to a degree-- it's important to take care of your body-- but after a point it's more about the dance and how you move with it.

I wouldn't be in a rush to go out and buy expensive dance shoes. If you're comfortable and spin easily enough to not eventually hurt your knees then I'd say you're fine until you feel the desire to get different shoes.
 
vey said:
Thanks for reminding me about different balancing of char. shoes, now I remember that I've read about it somewhere. I do not know, my goal is to become a good social dancer, I do not even own a pair of ballroom shoes :cry: Do you think I'll be fine for a while?

Another advantage of char. shoes for me- it's easy to find low-heeled ones (1-2") in stores, while the absolute majority of ballrm shoes that I've seen have higher heels. And beeing inexperienced as I am, I can't order on the web, I HAVE to try them on first.
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Sure, vey, I wore character shoes for a couple months before I took the plunge, no harm done, in my opinion, because I had no idea what forward poise was, anyway! :lol: :D And you're right. It is hard to find how-heeled ballroom shoes. If you decide to go for the ballroom shoes at some point, try the Werner Kern comfort line or the Cuban heeled shoes at Showtime. Both are ballroom shoes with low heels. For the time being, though, I think you're just fine. You or your teacher can best judge whether/when you need to change.

Edit: What I should have said is ask your shoe dealer to order some in for you. You are absolutely right. for your first couple pairs of ballroom shoes, get a professional to fit you if at all possible. If there's no ballroom shoe dealer in your town, try ballet stores which sometimes stock ballrom shoes, or try going to dance events and comps nearby. Often, shoe dealers will attend these events and bring shoes with them.
 
pygmalion, Swing Kitten and everybody involved, thank you so much for your input !!!

I'm so glad that I found this forum where I can get advice and opinions of much more experienced dancers, because people in my dancing classes have as little experience as I do and instructors usually have only 5-10min between classes and I feel guilty taking up their resting time with my questions...
THANK YOU :D
 
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