Tango Shoe Divas

Question from new user Isocephaly:

I’m not quite sure where to ‘file’ this question, so I’m posting it here. Budget: A Question for the Shoe Divas.

I’ve long been a silent reader & fan; I find your forum so useful, that I’ve linked to it from our tango club website. However, I feel there’s a big hole in discussion and that is a review of budget footwear. I’m part of a university group, and many of our members are raw beginners, living off a very fixed income. They can’t afford Comme il Fauts, and maybe aren’t even sure yet whether they’ll stick with tango long enough to make the shoe-investment worth while. I’m struggling to offer advice on where to buy budget shoes.

I first suggested Guaranteed Fit because they have a good selection of the low-cost “Very Fine” dance shoes for c. $50; but now am locked in a standoff with them over my own order, which I placed two weeks ago for a pair that I’d planned to wear to outside events. They were supposedly in stock for shipment within two days. Now, having taken my money, they aren’t responding to my e-mails or calls about when I might expect them. In looking around online for other budget alternatives, I’m realizing that many of these vendors seem to have such problems. There was even a news report about the company ballroomdancingshoe.com ripping people off.

I’m wondering if other tanguere have had experiences (good, bad, or ugly) with buying budget shoes, and which vendors might be reputable enough to recommend to our fledgling dancers. Thank you!

I don’t even want to tell you the horrific shoes I started dancing in, so I do not have the best of advice. I have some friends who have bought some chunkier low heeled ballroom or character shoes for <$100 (sometimes significantly less) but most are UGLY. I bought a nice pair of leather bottom heels from Nordstrom’s once for ~$90, but I know how to feel for balance and flexibility, it is way harder for a beginner to do these things.

So does anyone have any good sources?

This past year was the year I decided to go back to wearing open toe shoes. I don’t know why I ever stopped, except that needing lower heels, I never had many choices about the shape of the front of the shoe before and didn’t really think that much about it until late 2008.

I am seriously hoping that 2010 will see some changes and  hopefully more tango shoe manufacturer’s broaden their somewhat narrow outlook of this aspect: “low heel shoes means closed/peep toe”.

I am glad Greta Flora broke this mold- and good on them. I know a couple of other brands like Tango Brujo, Nueva Epoca and Darcos also make pretty, open toe, lower heeled shoes so good for them too!

In 2009, I was determined to decrease my foot pain so I ruthlessly sold most of my higher heels and switched to lower ones. Unfortunately, this didn’t really help much and I was convinced it was just about time to give up dancing before I crippled myself, but got a chance to pre-order some low heeled open toe Greta Flora shoes from Kathleen at Diva-Boutique. (She’s great by the way.) The shoes were great; my feet mostly forgave me and now I can continue dancing.

So I scrimped and saved, taught private lessons on my days off, did special orders when I didn’t really want to and sold ALL but one pair of the shoes I had previously bought  (9 pairs), including my 2 pairs of Comme Il Faut, I’m sad to say, and have been slowly replacing them when I get a chance and find something that will work.

Here’s what I have now:

There are 2 pairs of Greta Flora, soon to be 3- a special order (oh no) directly from them that hasn’t gone well (what a surprise). There is one pair of Nueva Epoca, a pair of Darcos and a new pair of Jorge Nel’s. The raspberry pair (middle of the second pic) I bought in 2008, sort of a harbinger of things to come.

Now  a quick review.

Greta Flora- Overall, I love Greta Flora. The neutral pair required about 1 hr break in. Theya re very soft, shape to my toes and I can dance for hours in them. The black/red pair has potential but is a bit stiffer and tighter, I’ll probably need to have them stretched a little. The 3rd pair (more later as it will need it’s own story) is on its way from Argentina.

Nueva Epoca-The model I got is “Palma”. Carmen at Carmen’s Dance shoes has them on sale right now. Apparently the price is going up so I don’t know that I’ll buy them again with the new pricing, but if you can catch a sale, Nueva Epoca is good. Carmen is easy to deal with and returns are simple. They are flexible, comfortable, quality materials that aren’t stiff and are nicely made. I had 1/4″ taken off the Palma model to bring them closer to 2.5″ .They are actually 3″ up the back and not the 2 3/4″ listed. (The higher models have the height up the back posted so I am not sure why the lower heel ones don’t do the same.)

The Palma model I got is actually metallic purple (not the posted patent) with a iridescent pleated satin front- quite pretty! Lined in pale gold. I wore them for New Years and didn’t even bung up the metallics.

Jorge Nel- I got the raspberry pair in 2008 and added some trim (can’t help myself on that). They are comfortable, with a 3″ heel (up the back). They’re also rock solid stable.

So I special ordered the purple pair (yes, purple is my “black”) with the silver and black  star back…yes…note to self…stop doing that in 2010…The purple pair turned out nice on the surface. The suede is nice and the lining is soft, but he made them about 1/2 size too long for my foot (and he measured my feet himself!) and I just can’t get used to his heel placements (too far towards my heel). Overall- I’d only continue to get Jorge Nel shoes at a festival, where you can get a bit better price and try them out first.

Once bitten on special order shoes, twice shy, but 3 times I’m just dumb! So my resolution for 2010 is to NOT special order shoes from ANYONE and only buy from people whom I can return an item that doesn’t fit properly.

It was a seven month quest, but I finally got myself squared away with a pair of low heeled, (non-boring) neutral shoes.

These are from Greta Flora via Diva-Boutique and I wish I’d had them for Tangofest.

I love them. They are very well made. The materials are soft and not too stiff (unlike I find Comme Il Faut texture leathers). Greta Flora does half sizes on request though these are a regular size 36. Kathleen was able to give flower placement and color options as she adds them herself upon purchase.  The lining is excellent and the heel is lined in soft suede. The padding is average and about the only thing I could wish for a little more of (as usual).

These are a silvery taupe lizard texture suede with light cream accent and flower on the heel (my choice of placement). The heel measures a comfortable 2.5″ up the back (the 5.5cm heel).

Overall, I am very pleased and happy to recommend Greta Flora. Sizing runs similar to Comme Il Faut or Neotango for those who are concerned. Maybe just a hair wider in cut to similar band sandals for CiF, but similar in footbed length (size 36 is 9.25″ insole length).  CiF size 36 band sandals often bind my toes unless it is suede or velvet, but these were very nice in cut- not binding at all.

Yay for Greta and Flora!

Next step…a colorful pair of low heels!

***Update: I just wore these out to a milonga last night and despite the fact that they have less padding than I would like, this is the first time in quite literally years, that I have come home and NOT felt the need to ice my feet (though I did it anyway).****

In my search for lower heel tango shoes, and something more interesting than plain black or plain red, I came across a line called Nueva Epoca (made by Werner Kern, a well respected dance shoe company who has made dance shoes for many many years).

I tried out the Lourdes model, in a butter fishscale and matte gold.

The heel is still too high for me, but they can make them lower now and I have to say it was one of the most comfortable shoes I ver tried on.

They are padded lightly from heel to toe, the materials are softer than similar materials I have tried on from Argentine companies (like the fishscale leather). It was clear they would mould to my feet. The craftsmanship was excellent.

My only wish is they needed just a hair more room at the front of the shoe so the toes wouldn’t be too close to the edge. (I sent feedback on this and am pretty sure it got passed on.)

They have some lovely models of 3 3/8″ heels if you are looking for a well made shoe and aren’t all that enthused by Comme Il Faut.

Marguerite writes:

I would like the opinions and expertise of the divas on an important issue: PLATFORMS.
I’m looking to buy my first pair of platforms, possibly from Tango Wear. Pros, cons, preferred height, flexibility, stability?

I have a lot to say about platforms, but I am short on time so I will be brief. I like them. I really like the ones I just got from Tango Wear, but they were kind of a PITA to deal with. Definitely read my post about my most recent pair, before ordering. If you are concerned about flexibility, get the .5 cm platform, wrapped in suede or a soft leather. Patent wrapped platforms will be less flexible (I have a pair like that that I hate – I call them the Frankenstein Shoes). They also offer a 1 cm platform (which is what you find everywhere else, like Tara Tango) but I currently love the .5 cm as a compromise between flexibility and padding. I don’t really like Tango Wear’s added ball of foot padding, I find that the platform takes care of it and lasts longer… That’s all I can say for now, I have to go back to cutting drywall out of my bathroom. I’d MUCH rather be talking about tango shoes!

nance2dance’s question is a toughie…

Dear Divas,

Can you recommend ANY shoes I can wear to dance tango?

I have Morton’s Neuroma, a big angry nerve ending squished between my toe bones in the ball of my foot. I got it from learning ballroom in regular heels (not proper dance shoes).

Basically, I’m not supposed to wear heels if I don’t want lots of pain. But what’s a dance lover to do? I’ve been getting into tango more and more wearing some flat Reeboks that look something like a water shoe. I have GOT to start tangoing in heels! Any advice? Brands? What to look for in a dance shoe?

I’ve never bought “dance” shoes before…

Thanks,
nance2dance

I know nothing about Morton’s Neuroma, but I feel for her. My two suggestions would be to choose a low heel if possible, maybe an open toe to give the tootsies some room to breathe… Would some arch support help relieve the pressure? I actually had the exact opposite problem, my toe bones would spread over a night dancing and then make really funny noises going back into place!

So does anyone else have any experience to share?