Why quality dance shoes make all the difference to your exercise regime

I remember once hearing somewhere (and please don't ask me to name the source, because I have absolutely no idea, but I am quite sure that I didn't make it up myself) that dancers should invest their money in two key possessions: a mattress and a quality pair of dance shoes... the idea being that as a dancer, if you were not in one of them then you would likely be in the other.

Since this blog is not here to report on the merits of quality mattresses for dancers, I choose instead to focus on dance shoes (although you really ought to get yourself a memory foam mattress... the difference it will make to your sleep is unreal!!!)

But anyway... back to the dance shoes, even although I love my memory foam mattress, I need to focus :)

Dance shoes are hugely important to dancers, and not just professional dancers. If your goal in dancing is purely to get fit, then you still need to get yourself a set of proper dance shoes. Now, as you can imagine, what those shoes may look like will vary dramatically depending on what kind of dance you practice. You don't want to turn up to your contemporary dance class in a pair of ballroom shoes!

When you are exercising, you cannot overstate the need for comfort in everything that you wear and use. Even slight discomforts will irritate and cause damage over even short lengths of time. So if your shoe rubs with every step, then just stop and think about how many steps you will take in an hour long dance class - that's a lot of stepping... more than enough to cause a nasty blister or two. Now a blister is not the end of the world, but that's the kind of thing that will only get worse until you stop long enough for it to heal. And stopping is the last thing you want to do when you are trying to get fit, because it means you need to start all over again... and starting an exercise regime (even if you have only been stopped for a few weeks or even days) can be the hardest thing in the world. So the take home point here is to not need to stop, and you do that by getting yourself a good set of dance shoes... shoes that will not rub and irritate.


But there is another aspect to why you should get a quality pair of dance shoes, and that is safety.

Now that may sound insane to someone not involved in dance, but its entirely true. Proper dance shoes have the correct level of grip that you require to dance safely. Formal dance shoes, for example, have suede soles, which allow for a light touch but give enough friction to keep grip on the buffed hardwood flooring of dance halls. Dance sneakers are not quite as essential from a safety perspective as formal dance shoes, but they should still be considered important because of the increase in flexibility that a duel soled dance sneaker can bring. This increase flexibility gives a noticeable extra grip when you are throwing yourself around the dance floor, and can be very handy when looking for that extra ounce of grip to retain your balance.


Make no mistake about it, quality dance shoes are an absolute must have item for anyone looking to dance, whether its for fitness or as a profession.