For our series Ask A Dance Teacher, we asked ballet teacher Johanna Hadley some common questions about ballet training.
Our question was, “What can I practise in if I don’t have ballet shoes?”
Johanna says:
When practising and performing ballet, it is important to wear ballet shoes. Ballet shoes allow dancers to correctly articulate through their feet and gives a layer of protection. Plus, it provides the correct amount of grip on the sole for dancers to move safely without slipping or getting stuck.
If you’re just starting ballet, I always advise buying a cheap pair of ballet shoes. When you start dancing, you’ll begin to realise what you want from your pair of ballet shoes. You can then buy a pair that better suits your needs. For example, split sole or whole sole; leather, canvas or satin; single elastic or double elastic.
What can I wear instead of ballet shoes?
If your ballet shoes have worn out and you’re waiting for a new pair to arrive, there are some alternatives that you can use. These should only be used temporarily, however, and should be a last resort.
The most important thing to remember is to assess carefully the flooring on which you’re dancing. Footwear reacts differently on each type of flooring, and you don’t want the shoes to become slippy and dangerous.
A good alternative to ballet shoes is dancing in bare feet. Your feet can articulate well and you can move without risk of slipping. Your feet don’t move as freely as they would do in ballet shoes, however. You are also at a greater risk of blisters, splitting skin and friction burns. Make sure that your flooring is clean and safe, with nothing you could step on that could injure your feet.
Another option is dancing in socks. If you choose to dance in socks, these should be made from cotton so that they don’t become slippy when the feet become sweaty. Slipping is the biggest risk when dancing in socks, and even cotton socks can become slippy on certain floors.
Temporarily practising ballet in other dance shoes (such as jazz shoes, foot thongs or Bloch Sox) is an alternative, but again, will feel completely different to dance in, which isn’t ideal.
Sadly, none of these are a perfect replacement for ballet shoes. My best advice is, if you don’t have a pair of ballet shoes, try to get a new pair as soon as possible.
At Dancewear Central, we offer UK standard delivery, next working day delivery or Saturday delivery, meaning you shouldn’t be without ballet shoes for too long.
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