Welcome to the dance revolution!

You know you are an obsessed dancer when you start scouring the internet for a pair of dance sneakers because you want something comfortable to dance in so that you can take MORE classes and dance longer hours. Well, I hear you. As I was selling Argentine tango shoes at tango festivals I noticed many dancers looking for flat shoes that would relieve their foot pain. What they are looking for is dance sneakers, I would tell them, and here is the low down.

What are dance sneakers?
Dance sneakers have two things that differentiate them from street shoes. They have a split sole or an incredibly flexible sole so that stand on the balls of your feet or keeping your weight over the balls of your feet is effortless. They also have a slippery sole so that pivoting on a wood floor is effortless (well at least the shoe isn't going to make it more difficult).

Where can you find them?
There are two major dance suppliers who sell dance sneakers. Capezio and Bloch. I have spoken to swing and tango dancers and they tend to like the Capezio shoes because they are less bulky and have thinner soles which is good for improvised partner dances because they give a better range of motion than the Bloch. In speaking with hip-hop and modern/ballet dancers, they prefer Bloch and most dancers in classes like these will be wearing Bloch. They have better support and pivot control. Bloch are the most popular sneaker bought on the internet, but an important thing to know is that they run 2 sizes larger than your street shoe size.

Alternatives
You can take many street shoes (provided the sole is flexible enough) and have a cobbler ad dance suede to the bottom of the soles to lessen the traction and there you have it, a good pair of dance sneakers. A lot of dancers use Keds, Pumas, and Reeboks. You just want to make sure it is easy to be on the balls of your feet.

Many tango dancers these days are wearing ballet flats or jazz flats to practice in since they allow great range of motion and force you to balance properly on the ball of your foot. Your calves will get an enormous work out doing this, which can be a good thing.