Scenes of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck dancing elegantly across the floor in “Roman Holiday” always make me want to take up ballroom dancing. Being swept away by a gorgeous guy, led across the room in his arms feature in many romantic dreams. But like Cinderella, the right ballroom dance shoes are an extremely important part of the picture.
Ballroom dance shoes need to fit many criteria. For one, and obviously, they need to be comfortable. No one is capable of waltzing gracefully wearing shoes that pinch their feet. Ballroom dance shoes need to fit well and shouldn’t slip off mid-dance. Then they need to have the correct height of heels. Ballroom dance shoes for women cannot afford to be too high, as then the lady will be more worried about if she may trip and fall or may even be worried about her grip on the floor. Despite the fact that ballroom dance shoes do need heels, wearing heels that are too high dramatically shortens the amount of time that they can be worn comfortably and could cause injury. Surprisingly, this applies to men too. Men need ballroom dance shoes that have a heel as well, but anything too short or too high will only make the pair of shoes too uncomfortable for the man to dance in. And comfort plays a huge role when ballroom dancing. Ballroom dance shoes can be store bought or custom made, which you choose depends on how much you’re willing to spend, and your taste in shoes. While store bought shoes do have variety, buying them makes it more likely that you’ll purchase a common design. Custom made shoes are a tad bit more expensive as they are made to fit your feet perfectly, but they can be varied in design, and so will definitely stand out in the crowd as well.
When learning ballroom dancing, the dancing instructor always should make it a point to advice students on the proper kind of ballroom dance shoes they need to invest in, as after all ballroom dance shoes are an investment you make. The right ballroom dance shoes will be an added highlight to a perfect night.
