I'm very much a begining dancer and don't want to invest in those suede soled shoes yet ... I'm planning on just using some of my work dress shoes. What type of sole is preferrable? I have some with a sort of fully "rubberized" grippy bottom, some with a smooth bottom and rubberized heel, and some with both a smooth bottom and heel? Help!

Try the smooth soled shoes with the smooth heel. However, I have seen people dance with all three types. You may want to try them all and see what works best for you.

One of the main advantages of using dance shoes is that they are so much lighter than dress shoes. Once you have danced in real ballroom shoes you will never go back.

Blair

I understand why you don't want to buy dance shoes right away and that's fine. However, they really are the best ones to use. They may be a little expensive, but think of this -- you wear them *only* for dancing. A good pair of shoes is somewhere around $100-$120 I think, but they should last a good long time. I think my current pair is about two years old now and still in great shape. They'll probably last at least another year or two as long as I take care of them. The suede soles give you the best combination of stick and slip -- they give you enough traction on the floor that you won't slide around uncontrollably, but they also allow you to swivel and pivot without your foot getting stuck to the floor. Rubber soles are generally very bad in this respect -- if you swivel or pivot in something like sneakers, you can easily get your foot stuck in place while your knees and legs continue turning which can be painful at least. Plus as Blair said, dance shoes are generally lighter (and often more flexible) than normal shoes and thus quite comfortable to dance in. Personally, I need more support than I actually get in dance shoes, but for the few hours of a social dance I'm OK.

That being said, it's still perfectly fine to wait a while before you get dance shoes. There's no point in spending the money on them if you're not going to stick with it and get your money's worth out of the shoes. My suggestion, for what it's worth, would be to avoid the rubber soled shoes. Chances are they'll stick too much causing problems noted above. Either the all smooth sole or smooth sole/rubber heel would probably work better. Of course the smooth soles should give you some traction, too, so that you don't feel like you're walking around on ice. But I'd think a regular pair of shoes probably does give sufficient stick to the floor to work OK. As Blair said, there's no harm in trying all your types of shoes and seeing what you like the best. People do dance in all sorts of shoes when they're beginning. Once they're hooked they usually go for the suede soled dance shoes. I hope this is of some help.

--
James Marshall
marshall@astro.umd.edu
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall

I'd encourage you to use any leather-soled shoe over a rubber-soled shoe. They don't have to be suede -- even a dress shoe would work to start. I have a condition that requires orthopeadic shoes -- I had to dance in rubber-soles for a long time. When I finally bought a pair of leather-soled shoes -- as close as I can come to dance shoes -- the difference was amazing. Also, are dance shoes as expensive as you think? I've seen dance shoes on the web going for as little as $40 US.

Good luck.

R

Dance shoes are generally not cheap. If you found something for only $40, chances are they aren't ballroom dance shoes or at least not good ones. My first pair of dance shoes cost about $80 and they weren't from one of the well known, top manufacturers. My second pair was and cost about $100 or so. You can use other types of shoes for ballroom, I think I've heard of people substituting jazz shoes, but I kind of doubt you'll find a good pair of ballroom dance shoes for only $40. But I am talking about new shoes. If you find someone selling a pair they bought because they don't fit right or something then you can get them for somewhat less. Used (almost) always costs less then new.

--
James Marshall
marshall@astro.umd.edu
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall