by Matt Barber Author, Columnist, and Dance Professional

We dance teachers get asked all the time about the proper way to care for dance shoes. I believe that, first and foremost, You must respect that Your dance shoes are called dance shoes for a reason, that is to say they have a very specific purpose: dance. If You’re not dancing in Your dance shoes, You shouldn’t being wearing Your dance shoes. Hence, You shouldn’t be wearing Your dance shoes outside the dance school or dance studio, You shouldn’t be wearing Your dance shoes to walk to or from Your car, and You shouldn’t be wearing Your dance shoes to go the restroom.

Why can’t I do those things in my dance shoes, You ask… Well, Your ballroom dance shoes should have semi-delicate suede soles. I could easily enumerate quite a long list of rules regarding Your dance shoes, but if You’ll just commit to remembering that Your dance shoes’ soles are made of semi-delicate suede, You won’t have to remember a long list of dance shoe do’s and don’ts.

Therefore, You cannot wear Your dance shoes outside because Your dance shoes’ semi-delicate soles can and will tear from rocks and pebbles. You should not wear Your dance shoes outside the dance studio or dance school because other venues do not keep their dance floors nearly as clean as Your dance studio or dance school; thus, dirt and grime can and will build up in the suede fibers of the soles of Your dance shoes. If You wear Your dance shoes to go to the restroom, You risk getting water on the suede fibers of Your dance shoes, in which case the fibers may lay down and never be able to be popped back up.

So why use a semi-delicate suede sole in the first place? You can control Your speed on the dance floor if You have the ability to lay down and pop-up the suede fibers of Your dance shoes’ soles. Ergo, You have to protect those dance shoe sole fibers!

So when You brush Your dance shoes’ soles, do so with care. If You’re ripping the fibers out, You’re doing it wrong. Be gentle and care for Your dance shoes, and Your dance shoes will last You quite some time. 

We dance teachers get asked all the time about the proper way to care for dance shoes. I believe that, first and foremost, You must respect that Your dance shoes are called dance shoes for a reason, that is to say they have a very specific purpose: dance. If You’re not dancing in Your dance shoes, You shouldn’t being wearing Your dance shoes. Hence, You shouldn’t be wearing Your dance shoes outside the dance school or dance studio, You shouldn’t be wearing Your dance shoes to walk to or from Your car, and You shouldn’t be wearing Your dance shoes to go the restroom.

Why can’t I do those things in my dance shoes, You ask… Well, Your ballroom dance shoes should have semi-delicate suede soles. I could easily enumerate quite a long list of rules regarding Your dance shoes, but if You’ll just commit to remembering that Your dance shoes’ soles are made of semi-delicate suede, You won’t have to remember a long list of dance shoe do’s and don’ts.

Therefore, You cannot wear Your dance shoes outside because Your dance shoes’ semi-delicate soles can and will tear from rocks and pebbles. You should not wear Your dance shoes outside the dance studio or dance school because other venues do not keep their dance floors nearly as clean as Your dance studio or dance school; thus, dirt and grime can and will build up in the suede fibers of the soles of Your dance shoes. If You wear Your dance shoes to go to the restroom, You risk getting water on the suede fibers of Your dance shoes, in which case the fibers may lay down and never be able to be popped back up.

So why use a semi-delicate suede sole in the first place? You can control Your speed on the dance floor if You have the ability to lay down and pop-up the suede fibers of Your dance shoes’ soles. Ergo, You have to protect those dance shoe sole fibers!

So when You brush Your dance shoes’ soles, do so with care. If You’re ripping the fibers out, You’re doing it wrong. Be gentle and care for Your dance shoes, and Your dance shoes will last You quite some time.

About the Writer:

Matt Barber, author of Beginning Ballroom: Why’s, Do’s, Don’ts, and Shoes and the upcoming Two (Million) Left Feet, first encountered ballroom dancing as choreographed routines onstage for musicals and began ballroom lessons in high school. At eighteen, Matt started training to be an instructor with National Dance Clubs as a side job in college; he went on to teach in the independent world, for Arthur Murray International, and for Fred Astaire Dance Studios. At the same time, Matt graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan and acquired an SB from Fordham University, his MS, and his business management and leadership training from Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Share this: