Shoes

[Grider]

I'm new to "real" dancing. I'm my 50's but in good shape. I'm learning/practicing Two Step, El Paso Cha Cha, East Coast Swing, and Brazilian Samba. At the moment I am concentrating on East Coast Swing and Brazilian Samba. I am at the point where I am repeating the basic steps to music over and over and over. I can tell this is starting to take its toll on my feet and also somewhat on my knees. So Im thinking I need some sort of specialized shoes for dance practice.

Can anyone recommend dance shoes that might help . . . style, brand, source, etc?

Also another thread here got me to thinking . . . I practice on a very hard porcelain floor. Should I buy some kind of mat to practice on? Where could I find something like that?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[opendoor]

..thinking I need some sort of specialized shoes for..

Usually it is a hurting knee, but not the thinking brain that makes one buy dance shoes. But if knees aren't an issue, you do not need any specialized shoes.

 

[Brummbaer]

I'm new to "real" dancing. I'm my 50's but in good shape. I'm learning/practicing Two Step, El Paso Cha Cha, East Coast Swing, and Brazilian Samba. At the moment I am concentrating on East Coast Swing and Brazilian Samba. I am at the point where I am repeating the basic steps to music over and over and over. I can tell this is starting to take its toll on my feet and also somewhat on my knees. So Im thinking I need some sort of specialized shoes for dance practice.

Can anyone recommend dance shoes that might help . . . style, brand, source, etc?

Also another thread here got me to thinking . . . I practice on a very hard porcelain floor. Should I buy some kind of mat to practice on? Where could I find something like that?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Uncertain what people normally wear for those dances, but when we did ballroom I got some 'ballroom' shoes with a suede sole and no protruding welt (ask a partner about the impact(!) of ordinary shoes). For Argentine Tango my preference is a leather sole for pivoting, which stops you ripping your knee. Others like brushed suede. You can, of course get dance sneakers for street dance - and they have a pivot point. My personal preference is a split sole. Bloch are one supplier who come to mind, but check what other dancers for those dances use.

I'd have thought a 'porcelain' floor was a bit hard and potentially resistant. It depends. I've danced on smooth-ish stone and tiles, which were ok, but some tiled floors are slip resistant. We have wooden flooring for dance, but do also use a dance mat (3m * 2m) outdoors or on concrete (I think Marley supply them in the US). Find that a bit slip resistant, so 'slipperene' in very limited quantities helps.

Try searching the forum under all forums for shoes and mat.

 

[Grider]

Uncertain what people normally wear for those dances, but when we did ballroom I got some 'ballroom' shoes with a suede sole and no protruding welt (ask a partner about the impact(!) of ordinary shoes). For Argentine Tango my preference is a leather sole for pivoting, which stops you ripping your knee. Others like brushed suede. You can, of course get dance sneakers for street dance - and they have a pivot point. My personal preference is a split sole. Bloch are one supplier who come to mind, but check what other dancers for those dances use.

I'd have thought a 'porcelain' floor was a bit hard and potentially resistant. It depends. I've danced on smooth-ish stone and tiles, which were ok, but some tiled floors are slip resistant. We have wooden flooring for dance, but do also use a dance mat (3m * 2m) outdoors or on concrete (I think Marley supply them in the US). Find that a bit slip resistant, so 'slipperene' in very limited quantities helps.

Try searching the forum under all forums for shoes and mat.

Thanks for that. I just ordered some Aris Allen dance sneakers (suede sole). Hopefully this will let me practice long hours comfortably at home.

 

[Grider]

FWIW the Aris Allen dance sneakers helped a lot . . .