Different types of Dancewear Shoes

Dancing has been popular throughout the ages and as the art evolved, so did the need for proper footwear. Think about all of the popular forms of dance; ballet, jazz, tap, ballroom, hip hop etc. There are different types of dancewear shoes for all of these disciplines, specifically designed with the style of dance in mind.

Ballet shoes are made of leather, canvas or satin and are traditionally pink or white, but sometimes can be seen in black and grey colours. They can be worn by both men and women. Women usually wear pink and men usually wear white. The reason behind the colouring of the shoe is so that they match the skin tone of the dancer and become as inconspicuous as possible so as to give the illusion of the dancer barefoot. Young dancers usually wear ballet shoes until their bones and muscles develop enough to train in pointe shoes. These are a variation of the ballet shoes that are modified to allow a dancer to rise onto their toes and perform dainty movements called pointe work. Male dancers do not usually dance on pointe so these shoes are mainly worn by women. They have a box at the toe of the shoe, which is hardened and filled with soft satin material for the toes to rest on when the foot is en pointe. The foot is then supported by a shank that runs along the base of the shoe and the whole thing is secured with a ribbon around the wearer’s ankle. Pointe shoes are very popular amongst all of the different dancewear shoes, as a dancer looks the epitome of elegance when dancing ‘en pointe’.

Another popular type of dancewear shoes are jazz shoes. These are intended for jazz dance but can sometimes be used for other types of dance, from hip hop to traditional and even aerobics or gymnastics. They are useful for a variety of disciplines. They are usually made of leather or canvas, which are very popular materials for dancewear shoes of all types.

Tap shoes are a specialised type of dancewear shoes. They are specifically designed for tap dancing because of the metal plates attached to the heel and toe of the shoe. They can be worn by both men and women. Tap shoes are usually black in colour and have a slight heel. Well known tap dancers are Sammy Davis Jr. and Fred Astaire, who in some ways made the form of dance what it is today. It could be said to be one of the best known forms of dance after ballet and is enjoyed the world over.

There are so many different styles for dancewear shoes and updated and trendy versions of popular styles are being designed frequently. As dance is such a popular hobby, profession and sport, dancers strive to have the most stylish outfits and footwear. Dancewear shoes have even become somewhat of a fashion statement among young dancers at dance schools and entertainers alike. Even among teens who do not dance professionally, some recent movies have led to dancewear shoes, leotards and leg warmers coming back into the fashion scene.