Salsa Shoes

Women - For salsa I recommend women buy competitive international Latin shoes. The “salsa” shoes sold at congresses and general dance stores are expensive and still of a relatively poor quality. The shanks and straps often break and they don’t have the flexibility needed to point and feel the floor with your toes. If you can't afford these shoes, look for leather soled, closed toe heels with an ankle strap. The heel should be no higher than 3". The ankle strap must keep the shoe attached to your foot as you spin. If you are looking for comfort and function, then check out my section on practice shoes.

Men - Men wear a wide variety of shoe styles for salsa dancing. When buying shoes keep in mind it needs to stay on your foot as you kick and spin, have a suede or leather sole, and have a flexible shank. The standard is a lightweight leather soled men's dress shoe. These are nice because you can wear the leather bottoms on the street and don't have to carry an additional pair of "dance shoes" with you to the club.

If you do decide to wear these street shoes to dance salsa, make sure your shoes do not have welts.

The welt is a strip of leather or other material around a shoe. It is sewn to the outside of the bottom part of the uppers and then bent outward and sewn onto the top outside of the sole. If the shoe is sewn directly to the sole, the part of the sole that sticks out around the shoe can be referred to as the Welt.

Most women dance salsa in open toed shoes. The welt can catch under her toe nail and painfully rip it off. This has happened to me (twice) and many of my female friends. The guy meanwhile has no idea that anything has happened. Many of the women hide what happened, because they don't want to make him feel bad for unintentionally hurting her. Then the clueless guy wears the shoes out again and hurts more women. Gentlemen, don't be that guy! Ladies speak up to protect yourselves and others!

Dance shoes are not made with welts because welts interfere with dance technique. They make it difficult to feel the floor and limit your ability to lean from side to side. Some male dancers describe it as "dancing on snow shoes".

I recommend you buy a shoe designed or at least modified for dancing. I would wear ballroom or Latin Dance Shoes out salsa dancing. They look sharp and you will dance better in them! Many men take a pair of casual shoes (like sneakers) to cobblers and have them adapted for dance. Ask the cobbler to shave down the bottom enough to make the shoes flexible and suede them for you. If live in greater LA and are on a limited budget, I recommend Ralph’s Shoe Repair. Tell him Mary sent you. He’ll suede women’s shoes for $8 and men's for $10! You may have to re-glue your soles with E6000 adhesive at some point, but you can't beat that price.

Ralph's Shoe Repair
5924 N. Figueroa
Pasadena, CA
(323) 257-6121

<<Back
<<Shoes