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Juju
23rd-October-2006, 06:23 PM
Simple question.

I'm a flat shoe kinda gal but a (female) dancing friend reckons my dancing would improve if I wore a slight heel.

I hate heels. :mad: Advice please.

Ta. X

Genie
23rd-October-2006, 06:32 PM
In some ways, a slight heel can be an advantage as it shifts your weight forwards onto the balls of your feet, which helps with turns, etc. But then again, a heel also requires a little extra balance (the bigger/narrower the heel, the higher the chances of a twisted ankle). It's entirely a matter of personal preference. I have heels and they are fine, but my heels tend to be quite low, because I am one of those poor, unfortunately tall ladies.

I can only recommend trying it out hun. If you don't want to buy your own pair see if you have a friend with the same size feet and borrow her heels for a while. See how it goes.

Whether or not they'll help with your dancing... it depends whether you have a habit with leaning back on your heels or not, I suppose. If you do, beware of the heels, because you might do yourself an injury if you're not used to them. I'm no expert, but I made the transfer to heels quite easilly. If you don't like them, then you might not notice any improvement in your dancing for concentrating too much on your feet.

Did your friend say 'why' she thought your dancing might improve with heels?

Achaeco
23rd-October-2006, 06:33 PM
I tend to trip in heels.

Nessiemonster
23rd-October-2006, 06:34 PM
Wearing slight heels can improve your posture (although I'm not entirely sure why). It makes me feel a bit more confident, and taller (!) which helps me. However, heels that are too high mean you're more likely to lose balance and trip over.

Personally I'd reckon it's about being comfortable. If you're not comfortable wearing heels then it's unlikely to improve your dancing IMHO. :flower:

El Salsero Gringo
23rd-October-2006, 06:34 PM
Did your friend say 'why' she thought your dancing might improve with heels?Because it's a better class of men that dance with ladies in heels. :whistle:

Juju
23rd-October-2006, 07:24 PM
Did your friend say 'why' she thought your dancing might improve with heels?

She dances with me sometimes (she leads). She is more experienced and, frankly, a lot better than me. She said it would help because I tend to dance slightly on tiptoe. I think I do that partly due to being short - 5 ' 0" - and partly because it just seems to happen like that. So, in effect, I am doing what you said anyway, i.e...


... a slight heel can be an advantage as it shifts your weight forwards onto the balls of your feet, which helps with turns, etc.

She did say that she felt wearing heels had helped her dancing - she wasn't too keen on them herself, being tall.

Juju
23rd-October-2006, 07:36 PM
Personally I'd reckon it's about being comfortable. If you're not comfortable wearing heels then it's unlikely to improve your dancing IMHO. :flower:

That's what I tend to think. Especially as I'm incredibly clumsy and would probably go, to use the common parlance, arse over tit.

And then there's the whole new wardrobe I'd have to buy to go with them.. then again.... :grin:

J-J
23rd-October-2006, 08:40 PM
i think the ceroc sparkly blk shoes lok amazing

think they expensive tho????

ive never danced ceroc in heels - but think it looks fabby

Freya
23rd-October-2006, 09:19 PM
I used to always dance in high heeled shoes!

then I discovered my jazz shoes again! I loved them! they stayed on, My feet didn't hurt too much by the end of the night! With dancing 2-3times a week and most weeekends in them! I now can't wear high heels! Full stop!

I'm trying to get back into the practice of wearing heels and am gonna go try on alot of shoes in London when I'm there!

Genie
23rd-October-2006, 11:19 PM
She dances with me sometimes (she leads). She is more experienced and, frankly, a lot better than me. She said it would help because I tend to dance slightly on tiptoe. I think I do that partly due to being short - 5 ' 0" - and partly because it just seems to happen like that.

Well, heels might help you then. Give it a go. If you find it's not helping after a few weeks, revert to flat shoes.

sidney
24th-October-2006, 09:03 AM
I myself wear flatties outside dancing, can't stand heels but when I started dancing 3 years ago I wore flats for a long while but my cousin said try heels as it will improve your dancing so I gave it a go hated it to start with but my feet got used to it and to me I felt I danced better in heels with more style but the down side is my feet gets blisters etc so when I go on the dance holidays my flats go with me and in the week at dance pratice:nice:

fletch
24th-October-2006, 09:48 AM
On my very first lessons I wore heals, but I had so many comments about my height and men not been able to stretch over me :sick: I started to wear flats.:what:

2 years on, Chef said "you really should wear heals they are better to dance in and also look better" so when I won the shoes at Camber last year I used the voucher to by shoes with heals.:clap: they are better and I now am gathering quite a collection of colours,:cool: they are just as easy to dance in and look good.:waycool:

It is harder to do some of the 'lindy' steeps in heals.:really:



:flower:

.

Juju
24th-October-2006, 10:11 AM
Thanks for your advice, ladies. I might give heels a go at some point....

Dizzy
24th-October-2006, 10:18 AM
I started wearing heels when I first started dancing and had no problems with them until I started doing WCS about 4 months ago and now I find it really difficult to dance in my heels :eek: :tears:. I don't really understand it as I am constantly on my toes when dancing ceroc.

Chef
24th-October-2006, 10:30 AM
On my very first lessons I wore heals, but I had so many comments about my height and men not been able to stretch over me :sick: I started to wear flats.:what:

2 years on, Chef said "you really should wear heals they are better to dance in and also look better" so when I won the shoes at Camber last year I used the voucher to by shoes with heals.:clap: they are better and I now am gathering quite a collection of colours,:cool: they are just as easy to dance in and look good.:waycool:

It is harder to do some of the 'lindy' steeps in heals.:really:



:flower:

.

I think I should explain why I said this to Fletch because perhaps my explanation may help others decide what choice would be best for them.

Fletch is quite tall (although slightly shorter than me) and when she was in the early part of her dance journey it was perfectly understandable that she and her partners would dance further apart durings turns and returns and this makes ir difficult for the man to get the arm over the womans head and makes the woman feel that she has to crouch or bend to avoid being clouted in the head (both of which don't make you relax when doing a turn).

When I met Fletch she was past the unstable turning/spinning phase of her dance journey and could turn easily and in a tight and controlled way. The reason for her and her partners to dance so far apart had been removed and so the problem of her being so tall had all but gone. So I felt that she could, if she wished, dance in heeled shoes.

So why did I think that it would help her dancing at that time? At that time Fletch was tending to settle too much of her weight onto her heels and and this gave her partner (me) the feeling that I was having to hold her upright giving a feeling of great tension in our arms. I felt that by her wearing heels she would be less inclined to put so much wieght on her heels, bringing more of her weight onto the back part of the ball of her foot. She would still be able to move her weight around but would not have to rely on her partner so much to do the moving on her behalf. In short I thought it would improve her own control of her own balance and this would enable her to be more controlled and controllable as well as being able to react faster and more smoothly.

If you have ever seen people that drive a car on a skid pan or in a cradle that simulates driving on wet or icy roads then I would say the affect is similar. You have to adapt your driving style to be more smooth, balanced and controlled when you can place less reliance on sheer grip with the floor.

I understand that heeled shoes place more of your weight on a smaller part of your foot and they have less lateral stability and so they are less comfortable for a very long evenings dancing and more dangerous in terms of turning your ankle over so a wide low heel might be a good place to start. If you are unstable in flat shoes then moving to heels will not improve things.

So perhaps some things to consider there as you make your mind up about if and what sort of shoes one might choose for dancing.

Juju
24th-October-2006, 10:36 AM
Useful stuff.

Wow. Fascinating. Being short and not dancing on my heels so much, I do wonder whether they'd make a huge difference to me. Food for thought.

Caro
24th-October-2006, 10:44 AM
:yeah: to what Chef and others have said, different types of shoes will influence your dancing and it is a good idea to try and get used to heels (they don't have to be too high). Your posture will change.
Then you should probably give a go to other types of shoes, it's all part of your dancing journey...
I don;t have too much time to expand, but look at this thread (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9093)I posted some time ago.

TiggsTours
24th-October-2006, 11:02 AM
:yeah: to what Chef and others have said, different types of shoes will influence your dancing and it is a good idea to try and get used to heels (they don't have to be too high). Your posture will change.
Then you should probably give a go to other types of shoes, it's all part of your dancing journey...
I don;t have too much time to expand, but look at this thread (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9093)I posted some time ago.

:yeah: But in turn, different styles of dancing will influence which shoes you should wear!

Personally, if I was dancing latin I would only ever do that in heels, there again, swing being my primary style of dance, I would never wear heels to a swing night, as that would change my posture to a position that wouldn't be right, WCS I would wear either, but boogie woogie in heels? I don't think so! With jive, I will sometimes wear heels, when I'm in an elegant mood (or clothes) or I know the DJ at that venue is predominantly a latin type feel, or I would wear flats if I knew the DJ was predominantly a swing type style, if I wasn't sure, I'd take both with me. If I were a street dancer, I wouldn't even think of wearing heels for a second!

Having a pair of heels is always a good investment, no matter what style of dance you do, you never know when you may end up going to a ball. But don't feel you have to wear them because of what someone else tells you, its personal preference. No matter what style of dance you do though, you need to be careful that your weight balance is held forwards, its not on your toes or on your heels, but the balls of your feet, that's where you get the most balance control.

mikeyr
24th-October-2006, 11:34 AM
So why did I think that it would help her dancing at that time? At that time Fletch was tending to settle too much of her weight onto her heels and and this gave her partner (me) the feeling that I was having to hold her upright giving a feeling of great tension in our arms. I felt that by her wearing heels she would be less inclined to put so much wieght on her heels, bringing more of her weight onto the back part of the ball of her foot. She would still be able to move her weight around but would not have to rely on her partner so much to do the moving on her behalf. In short I thought it would improve her own control of her own balance and this would enable her to be more controlled and controllable as well as being able to react faster and more smoothly.

Absolutely spot on, most of the ladies that I know who dance in flats do this. As much as you think you dance on your toes there always be some further movement to compensate for weight redistribution, I can feel this through the connection.

I will even go further to say that is why I wear heels(cuban), to stop the settling back on my heel, it brings the weight more toward the ball of the foot, it has improved my balance and control and as a result I feel that my dancing has improved.

Alice
24th-October-2006, 12:59 PM
I started wearing heels when I first started dancing and had no problems with them until I started doing WCS about 4 months ago and now I find it really difficult to dance in my heels :eek: :tears:. I don't really understand it as I am constantly on my toes when dancing ceroc.
:yeah:
I now have a pair of practice shoes (lace-up, smallish heel) for west coast and a pair of character shoes with a higher heel for ceroc/jango. I switch to the prac shoes if my feet are getting tired cos they're really comfy and I like the extra support of the laces.

Can't do west coast in the heels to save my life though- hate the feel of it now I've gotten used to the other ones.

fletch
24th-October-2006, 01:00 PM
Can't do west coast in the heels


that explains it :D

Twirly
24th-October-2006, 01:08 PM
And of course heels don't have to be skyscrapers. I think mine are about 5cm high, quite stable as the base of the heel is a good size (not stilettos) and very comfortable, particularly with the padding in on the sole where the ball of the foot is. It's also nice to be able to swap between different styles/height of shoe, and, I suspect, better for your feet.

jivebunny
24th-October-2006, 04:20 PM
When I first started I use to dance in flat shoes, but found that i would dance on my toes and this hurt my calves, so invested in a pair of shoes with a 2inch heal (or there abouts) i found that my posture changed and i felt more comfortable when dancing, more elegant i suppose, however the painful calves were replaced by hurting balls of feet, this i got use to and only after a major dance session do my feet want to kill me (however Ibuleve gel was recommend by a girl at a freestyle and i have found it great for hurting feet). This weekend i invested in a beautiful pair of sparkly shoes from Daventry, these are much high then i am used to and it took a while to get use to the heal.

start small and see what you think

A:flower: xx

spindr
24th-October-2006, 09:05 PM
Can't do west coast in the heels...
Some of us can.

Wearing heels is going to tend to make your foot point hopefully be default, c.f. Len's remarks on SCD tonight.

A nice 2-inch round Cuban heel can make spins easier on the heels, etc.

And that's just for blokes :)

Cheers,
SpinDr