How to Choose Dance Shoes: Sole, Heel and Fit by Style

The rule underneath the table: turning dances need suede or a split sole; jumping and street styles need cushioning; specialist styles override everything with a sole built for one job, such as tap’s metal taps or flamenco’s nails.

The most common mistake is ordering your street size. Dance shoes are fitted to move with the foot, so most fit snugger than street shoes, and the difference varies by brand and style.

Move Dancewear’s fit test for ballroom and Latin shoes is a good template for any style: no gap behind the heel, toes reaching the end of the shoe without spilling over the sole, and no curled toes in a closed shoe (Move Dancewear). Then dance in the shoe before you take the tags off: rise onto the balls of the feet, pivot a half turn, point and flex. A heel that lifts out on the pivot, or a strap that digs in when you point, will not improve with wear. Open Latin sandals stay on by their straps alone, so check that the ankle strap and any T-bar hold the foot without cutting in; some makers use quick-release buckles that set the length once and then hook on and off. For a beginner, Move recommends a full sole over a split sole for more stability underfoot until the foot gets stronger.

Read the maker’s own chart every time, because dance brands disagree with each other more than street brands do, and get fitted in person the first time you buy a new type. Many dance shoes run narrow, and some makers offer wide fittings; a shoe that pinches across the ball ends a class faster than one a little long. For children, fit the foot as it is now rather than buying a size to grow into, because a loose dance shoe slides on turns, and recheck the fit each term.

Suede soles need clean, smooth indoor floors; one walk across a parking lot grinds grit into the nap. A sticky floor makes a fresh suede sole grab, and a dusty one makes it skid, which is why social dancers carry a wire brush. Rubber sneakers grip too hard for spins on wood but are the right choice where the floor is rough or spill-prone. Matching the shoe to the floor matters as much as matching it to the style.

Care follows from the same logic. When a suede sole smooths over and starts to feel slippery, brush the nap back up with a suede-sole wire brush, lightly, because a hard scrub tears it; once it wears through, a shoe repairer can fit a replacement suede sole and the upper will usually outlast the original sole (Move Dancewear). Supadance suggests breaking new suede-soled shoes in at home on a clean carpet, then in short practice sessions, before a full class (Supadance). Carry dance shoes in a bag and change at the door, and let damp shoes air out rather than sealing them in that bag overnight.

Ballet and pointe

Soft ballet shoes are flat, in canvas or leather, with a full or split sole; pointe shoes have a stiffened toe box and hardened sole (Wikipedia: Dance shoe) and are added later, once a teacher judges the dancer ready. A slipper bends with the foot, while a pointe shoe adds a hardened box and a stiff shank under the arch, and the part-by-part breakdown is in pointe shoes vs ballet slippers. Pointe shoes are usually sold without ribbons or elastics (Freed of London FAQ), so every new pair is hand-sewn before its first class, a job laid out step by step in how to sew pointe shoes. Breaking in a new pair is mostly done by dancing in it, and Freed of London goes further, advising students not to break their pointe shoes in at all (Freed of London FAQ); the gentle and aggressive methods, and what each maker allows, are compared in how to break in pointe shoes. Slipper sizing is brand-specific: Bloch’s US chart puts a women’s ballet size two below street size (Bloch US size guide), while Capezio tells women to begin one size up for its Daisy slipper (Capezio: Daisy), which is why choosing ballet slippers starts from the model’s own chart. Width is where pointe fittings most often go wrong: each maker publishes its own scale, from Capezio’s WW to Grishko’s XXXXXX, and how to match one to a broad forefoot is in pointe shoes for wide feet. What to wear above the slippers, including real school dress codes, is in what to wear to ballet class.

Jazz

Jazz shoes are flexible, low-heeled slip-ons or lace-up oxfords; a split sole makes it easier to point the foot, and some add a suede patch under the ball for turning (Wikipedia: Jazz shoe). A full sole suits newer dancers building foot strength. They cross into lyrical and much musical theater. Published jazz dress codes and the rest of the outfit are in what to wear to jazz class.

Tap

Tap shoes carry two metal taps, one under the toes and one under the heel, that strike the floor to make the sound, on a full or split sole (Wikipedia: Tap dance). Check the tap screws before every session, because a loose tap buzzes. Some beginner pairs have plastic heels instead of wood or stacked leather (Wikipedia: Tap dance), and what to wear to tap class compares oxford, Mary Jane, slip-on and character-heel tap shoes.

Ballroom and Latin

Both run on suede soles, and the heel divides them, as the table above shows. Women’s Latin shoes are often open-toed with straps for security at speed; men’s shoes in both branches are closed and laced. For women’s competition shoes, tan is the usual color, a closed tan shoe for ballroom and a tan strappy sandal for Latin, chosen close to skin tone to lengthen the leg line (Move Dancewear). Beginners usually start women on a practice heel and move up later. What to wear above the ankle for a first class is in what to wear to a ballroom dance class, and how the shoe differs between ballroom tango and Argentine tango is covered in ballroom tango vs Argentine tango.

Sizing trips up a first ballroom pair more often than heel height does: Capezio starts women at street size in its Rebecca and Sara heels but half a size up in its BR74 canvas practice shoe (Capezio BR74), and the whole first-pair decision, from practice shoe to Latin sandal, is worked through in ballroom dance shoes for beginners.

Salsa and bachata

No separate published spec exists for social salsa shoes: makers group them with Latin shoes, and dance sneakers with a split sole and a smooth or suede turning surface are a common alternative for long social nights (Werner Kern). The full salsa-night outfit is in what to wear to salsa class. Sizing is where a first salsa pair goes wrong: GFranco sizes its salsa shoes to US street size, while Supadance asks for one full size down in a flare-heeled Latin sandal, and the full first-pair decision is in how to choose salsa shoes. Hustle, another spinning nightclub dance, has no shoe spec of its own and borrows the same options, as covered in hustle dance.

Contemporary and lyrical

Contemporary is danced closest to barefoot, so the “shoe” is protection for the ball of the foot on turns: a foot thong, a half-sole or a lyrical sandal. Choosing among them is worked through in what shoes to wear for contemporary dance.

Character

A character shoe is a closed shoe on a sturdy heel, held by a strap or laces, used for musical theater and character roles in ballet. Capezio sells them with 1.5-, 2-, 2.5- and 3-inch heels and calls the 1.5-inch heel the approachable starting point for class and rehearsal (Capezio character heel guide).

Flamenco

Flamenco shoes carry nails (clavos) in the toe and heel for the percussive footwork, on a heel of about 4 to 7 cm (1.5 to 2.75 in) in shapes such as the short, thick cubano and the curved carrete (Wikipedia: Flamenco shoe). Picking a heel and grade for your level is covered step by step in how to choose flamenco shoes, and the dance’s Andalusian roots and costume are in what flamenco dancers wear.

Line dance and country

Country dancers split between western boots and dance sneakers. Ariat’s guidance is to keep the heel low, “no more than a couple of inches,” with a leather sole for glide on smooth floors and rubber for traction on concrete (Ariat). The sneaker route is covered in the best shoes for line dancing, and whether everyday western boots will do is answered in can you line dance in cowboy boots. Swing dancers face a similar choice between a low suede-soled shoe and a smooth sneaker, discussed in swing dancing attire.

Pole

Pole is usually learned barefoot, because skin grips the pole. Platform boots are an advanced, style-specific addition rather than a beginner requirement; the case for the discipline itself is in the benefits of pole fitness.

Hip-hop and street

Dance sneakers add a split sole or a pivot point under the ball so you can turn without the sole fighting you, plus cushioning for jumps and drops. A regular gym trainer grips too hard for clean spins. What to wear with them is in what to wear to a hip-hop class. Which sneaker fits a hip hop class, a cypher or a breaking session, and why a flat, flexible sole beats a cushioned runner on a studio floor, is covered in the best shoes for hip hop dancing. Dance-fitness classes ask more of the same shoe: researchers who surveyed Zumba students in Hawaii advised a shoe that gives “stability for side-to-side motion and allows twisting and turning,” and advised against running shoes, whose tread can stick to the floor (Inouye et al. 2013). Sneakers built for that job are compared spec by spec in the best shoes for Zumba and dance fitness. Shufflers, who turn the running man and the T-step on studio wood one weekend and festival grass the next, choose between a flat, grounded sole and a bouncier air-cushioned one, a split worked through in the best shoes for shuffle dancing.

1. 1
   Ask what the class requires. Most studios name the shoe, and often the color, on day one. Buy that and nothing else until you know you are staying. Head-to-toe class outfits for each style are mapped on what to wear to dance class.
2. 2
   Sampling partner dancing rather than one class? One suede-soled shoe covers the most ground: a Standard shoe for smooth dances, or a Latin shoe or practice heel for salsa and bachata nights.
3. 3
   Hobby or performance? For a first term, an entry model from a dance maker is correct. For competition or performance, a higher-grade shoe earns its price in fit and durability.
4. 4
   Only trying one class? A smooth leather-soled street shoe will get you through a trial lesson in most partner dances, because it turns where a rubber sneaker grips. Specialist classes such as tap, flamenco and pointe are the exception: there, ask whether the studio lends shoes.
5. 5
   Buying for a child? Fit the foot as it is today, choose a low heel, and recheck the size every term, as Step 3 explains.

What you cannot share between styles are the specialist shoes: tap’s metal taps, flamenco’s nails and pointe’s blocked toe each do one job. One versatile suede-soled pair plus whatever your main style demands covers most dancers. When you are ready to order, compare return policies first, because fit-critical shoes are the purchases you are most likely to send back; the best dancewear stores lays them out side by side.