With a variety of dancing styles, it is not a surprise that there are a wide range of dancing shoes available now. Each specific style of dance shoe is meant to work flawlessly with the dancer. Dance shoes enable her to dance safely and efficiently through her dance routines.

A main factor with dance shoes is that they are not meant for everyday wear and tear. They are performance shoes and should be used for practice and recitals. Here are a few examples of dancing shoes that are available at this time.

Ballet slippers – Ballet shoes are easily the most recognizable dancing shoes. Beginning to moderate ballet dancers most commonly use ballet slippers, which help protect the ballerina’s feet and ankles. Ballet slippers come in full sole styles, which easily coincide with the type of stylepointe shoes have, or they are split soled to work best with a dancer’s arch of her foot.

Pointe shoes – Pointe shoes are ballet slippers for the advanced ballerinas. They are called pointe shoes because the front of the shoe has a place called a toe box, which tightly fits your toes together so that your body weight can be supported once you are on the tips of your toes. The still insole allows the extra help to support the feet from underneath the arch.

Jazz shoes – Jazz dancing is different than ballet, though the shoes are very similar. The major difference between the two shoes are that jazz shoes have a small heel to support the dancer. Jazz shoes are full or split soled, depending on the style, and should be very flexible.

Tap shoes – These shoes are what make tap dancing possible. Tap is a fun form of dance wear the dancers wear special shoes that have metal taps on the bottom of the shoes. Tap shoes use their shoes like drums to create a pattern and timely beat.

Hip Hop and Lyrical Shoes – Unlike modern dancing where most of the dancing is done barefoot, hip hop and lyrical dancing prefer shoes to be worn to allow more fluid movement. Hip Hop is one of the few dance styles that allows a lot of room for the variety of shoes that can be worn. The most common type, however, are tennis shoes or a flexible dance sneaker.

Latin and Ballroom Shoes – Latin and Ballroom shoes are normally pumps or sandals with at least a 2 or 3 inch heel. Suede soles, for both men and women, are best because they provide the best grip and slide needed for this type of dancing. When looking for this dancing shoe, remember to find ones that are both lightweight and flexible.