Why dance shoes have to FIT

As a retail dancewear store owner, I am often asked "Can you give my child room to grow?", the answer is maybe. For children's ballet shoes (the full sole kind used for 3-7 year olds) we can give the child one thumb width of room to grow. We can do this because the shoes can be adjusted using the draw strings to snug them up to the foot and because in this age group the steps are usually basic and the child is learning positions, does most of their "work" at the bar and turns are minimal. For the older child the answer becomes NO, the shoes must fit properly with no more than 1/4" of room before adjusting the drawstring. This is because as a child advances in ballet, the difficulty of the steps increases, single turns become double turns, and if there is too much room in the ballet shoe it will shift on the child's foot increasing the risk of injury and/or blisters and decreasing stability. For all other kinds of dance shoes there can be very little room to grow because the shoes are not adjustable and extra room in the shoe increases the risk of injury or blisters and decreases stability. When it comes to pointe shoes (pointe shoe use usually begins between ages 10 and 13) the shoes must fit EXACTLY right to avoid injury. More about pointe shoes and proper fit in a later post. A dancer's feet are the tools of his/her trade, and like any other profession the more we do to take care of the tools the longer they will last. For more information about the importance of the dancer's feet and shoes try "The Dancer's Foot Book" by Dr Terry Spilk. You can get your copy from our website by clicking on the link.