How to Pick Shoes for Jazz Dancing

So you're going to do some jazz dancing. Good for you. But now you need some shoes. Here are some tips for selecting a suitable pair of shoes that will allow you to dance your heart out.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Socks or nylons/tight (optional)

1. Locate a dance supply store and make plans to visit it. At the store tell the sales associate that you need to be fitted for a pair of jazz shoes.

2. Now the associate will ask you several questions. Black or tan? Split sole or full sole? Capezio or Bloch? Tie or pull on? Canvas or leather? The answers will of course depend upon what you really want. But for general purposes let's start here. Black shoes are generally the standard for jazz. If you do a recital or other performance your instructor may require you to purchase tan shoes for the look of the costume. But in general, black is standard. Split sole shoes are now the most popular because they are much easier to point your toes in. Split sole shoes are highly recommended. As far as canvas versus leather, go with leather. Canvas shoes are used by dancers who dance numerous hours each week and use them for practice. Tie or pull on, tie shoes are those with shoelaces. Pull on shoes have no shoe laces, straps or other mechanism for staying on. Pull on shoes are the easiest shoe and conform to the foot; however, they are slightly more expensive. Capezio and Bloch are the biggest producers of jazz shoes, but there are several other brands to choose from.

3. The associate will ask your street shoe size. Jazz shoes run on different sizing charts which vary by brand. They will also ask you if you have a wide, narrow or regular width foot. Then he or she will bring you several pairs of shoes to try on. Here's the fun part. Try on all the shoes. You're looking for a shoe that is comfortable, fits somewhat snuggly and is easy for you to manipulate your foot in. If you can't point you foot in the shoe then that isn't a good shoe for you.

4. Try doing a couple dance moves in the shoes. Try doing a turn, rising up on your toes and even running in them. You have to be comfortable in them as you will be doing lots of uncomfortable things while dancing and stretching, and you want your shoes to be worry-free.

5. Once you have selected and purchased your shoes, take them home and wear them around the house to get used to them. After you've danced in them you might notice they start to smell or the leather may be folding in due to sweat left in them after class. You can apply foot spray to these shoes to freshen them and simply bend and remold the shoes with your hands to reshape them.

Tips & Warnings

• If you plan on wearing socks be sure to try on the shoes with socks as they will create a tighter fit
• If fitting for a child, make sure to leave some room for growth as children's feet can grow quite rapidly

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[CoreyRichards]

on 11/2/2008 Nothing against the review / reviewer, but another way to comment on 'Jazz shoe sizes run differently', is basically that they aren't made correctly.
It's as if someone said "the Docker's 34 inch waist pants usually vary between 31 and 32 inches".
I've bought dozens of Jazz and tap shoes, and it's always a hoot when I'm told that the sizes are different with Jazz shoes... because really it's not the sizes that are different; US shoe size specs don't change when you enter a dance store. It's that the shoes aren't made to the size they are labeled as.
(again, I'm not criticizing the How-To or the How-To'er... the How-To was on target)