Why, Discount Dance, Why?

Posted in Studio Life, Teachers by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

It’s the first day of dance and your newest little toddler students enter the room in their new dancewear – hair pulled back, cute little leotards, pink tights and then you look down at their feet and you see:

THE HORROR!

The super soft fake satin ballet “slippers” they unfortunately sell next to dancewear at Target and Walmart. Every preschool teacher’s nightmare. They fall off feet, cause dancers to trip and fall and are simply not suited for a dance class.

But they truly are annoying and I cringe every time I see a parent proudly whip them out of a dance bag… usually just a case of being mis-informed.

Then today I was shopping for some new ballet slippers for myself from Discount Dance and I see this:

Let’s take a closer look…

AHHHHH! Eh tu, Discount Dance?

I mean, I understand that Target and Walmart might not care if the bedroom slippers they are passing off as ballet shoes aren’t ACTUAL ballet slippers, but Discount Dance should have SOME shred of integrity when it comes to shoes that are listed under the “Ballet” category! Whyyyyyy??

At least one of the reviewers (mind you, a 13-year old who has better sense then a dance catalog) wrote:

“I’m just going to quickly say if you are planning on buying these to wear them, don’t…Anyway, I actually made them in to a keychain!”

The only use for this shoe is as a decoration!

Ok… rant over. I feel better now.

At least until the first day of class…

26Nov2011

Lyrical & Modern "Shoes" – Do You Wear Them?

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

I prefer bare feet for my modern and contemporary classes, but lately my students have been wearing FootUndeez or Dance Paws (the ones with stripes, polka dots, sparkles, etc) to class. I feel like an old lady but I tell them “when I was your age, those shoes didn’t exist and we toughened our feet by dancing barefoot. We we proud of our callouses”. In college, we were not allowed to wear them and quickly adapted to dancing on marley barefoot.

Then my students laugh at me and pull on their rainbow colored modern “shoe” over their tender, un-calloused feet. So here’s my question to you, dear reader:

What do YOU wear on your feet to modern / lyrical class?

Or if you’re a teacher – what do you allow your students to wear in class? For performance?

If you’re not sure of what I’m talking about, they are little shoes that slip on over your toes and just over the ball of your foot to reduce friction and help with turns.

As a teacher, I allow my recreational students to wear them in class and in recital, but they must be skin-toned for the recital. And they must make a choice – whatever they plan to wear for the show, they must wear for class.

For my competitive students, I do not allow the to wear them for modern dances and for lyrical, I make a decision on the day of competition based on the surface of the stage. For slippery stages, they go barefoot.

As a dancer, I don’t like the feeling of things between my toes while I dance. I have a wide foot and the “Pawz” and “FootUndeez” cut off the circulation to my pinkie toe – does anyone else have that problem? I think I might like the half-ballet shoe (top row, middle), but for now I will remain shoeless.

8Sep2011

Haute Couture Is…. Pointe Shoes?

Posted in Uncategorized by Cait (The Dance Buzz)

And you thought pointe shoes were painful enough!

Christian Louboutin has always created mind-blowing shoes, but I have to say that these 8-inch heels, his highest to date according to JustLuxe.com, are ridiculous.

I am ok with ballet and dance setting trends, but there is no way anyone in their right mind would wear them. If the pointe of them (horrible pun intended) is to make people think about fashion, then its a success! But if hope we don’t see these tiptoeing down the runway anytime soon or in any fashion editorials…

Read the rest of the article here or visit ChristianLouboutin.com for more shoes.