As a dance instructor and studio owner ( DancEncounter Ltd of Geneva IL), I have fit many petite feet with their first ballet shoes and what’s more, had to stop class to tie shoe strings, or replace shoes on feet because they are too big and keep being stepped out of…. frustrating to the teacher but also hindering to the dancer in their learning process and even their safety.  Yet more concerning are the satin stretch slippers commonly sold by children’s dance attire in chain stores.  Whilst the clothing is usually just fine, the pink satin stretchy shoe ( or white or black) is more perfectly suited to dress up/home wear.  They don’t hug the foot tightly enough, as each parent understandably wants to get ‘time’ and ‘wear’ out of the shoe and so buying ‘big’ makes sense – but not when they are stretchy! Usually they don’t have the elastic, either, that goes across the top of the foot.  Also dance professionals are always going to recommend a ballet shoe with a leather sole for the right amount of “slip” as well as traction.

At our studio we sell a wonderful brand of ballet shoe that has a split leather sole, a stretch arch so it ‘gives’ with growth ( along with the leather) and to the dance teacher’s delight, an elastic top edge to the shoe in place of the draw string shoe lace, so little fingers don’t pull it undone and class can smoothly continue with out constant interruption for shoe tying!!  We recommend an index finger width at the top of the toe to allow for growth and have the ballerina march and rise up and down on tippy toes to make sure the heel remains inside the shoe.  Oh, and as an aside, feet that have been free and wiggling in sandals, flip flops, sand and grass might fight being in an enclosed shoe all of a sudden ( especially if buying tap dance shoes, which are not so soft and comfy) so wearing a thin sock or tight will aid the fitting process, as hot and sticky piggies may not slide into those “back to ballet” shoes…or the “ever so exciting first time ballet” shoes…

DancEncounter loves its Revolution brand of ballet shoes – The warehouse is in Illinois making deliveries to DancEncounter quick and efficient but more importantly they are great affordable quality. Revolution delivers a wonderful range of dance attire and foot wear to studios ( but only studios) country wide.  Like many dance shoe manufacturers, they run a little small so going up a couple of sizes is usually necessary but definitely do-able.  Because of this fact, the last piece of “back to ballet” or “first time ballerina” shoe advice is to ensure the ballerina is with you, to try those magical shoes on… Happy dancing everyone!