Dancing shoes - The right tools for the Job

One huge advantage of starting the hobby of ballroom and Latin American dancing, is that you can see whether you enjoy it without having to commit to investing in all the correct footwear!! When the time is right, it's definitely worth investing in a pair of dancing shoes.


Dancz Hints and Tips for Purchasing Dancing Shoes

'The secret ingredient' - 'The Suede Soles'
There's a lot more to dancing shoes than meets the eye, the main thing being that they have suede soles. The suede soles enables dancers to have the advantage of 'working with the floor' making it so much easier to glide and turn.

Ballroom vs Latin American
Yes!! There's a difference.
Gent's Ballroom = Patent , Gent's Latin = Cuban heels

 

You'll now find that some shoe suppliers have a social range which cater towards the needs of social dancers.

Ladies Ballroom = Court Shoe, Ladies Latin =  Strappy sandals (usually open toed)

My advice would be to invest in Latin shoes first, as these can by worn to dance either style in.


Colour of shoes (mainly aimed at the ladies)
What clothes do you wear to your dance class? Aim to continue your leg line!!
Black Shoes - if you normally wear black trousers or black tights
Silver / Gold / Flesh - if you normally wear lighter coloured clothing
I always wear tan coloured fish nets, hence the tan coloured shoes!!

Shoe Size
"Dr Hilary" (featured on Daybreak) advised that it's best to buy shoes (in general) in the afternoon / evening as this is when your feet are at their natural state. Most dancing classes are in the evening, so it is advisable to think of whether your feet tend to swell during the day.

Heel Height
I wear 2½ inch heels as this is the most suitable for my dancing. I would definitely recommend that new starters wear 2" or 2½" at the most, 3" are a definite no no. If you can't walk properly in them, then they're not suitable to dance in.

Shoe Style
Comfort over Style!! Do your toes like to escape from the side of strappy shoes? If so, then strappy shoes are not recommended, go for a style that is open toed but covered at the sides.

Where to purchase your dancing shoes
Local Suppliers
It's always nice to support our local dance shoe suppliers
Sarajoy - 62 Cross Street Sale Tel: 0161 962 2184
Fit To Dance - 69 Manchester Road Altrincham or 58 Port Street Northern Quarter Manchester www.f2dance.co.uk

The Internet
There's plenty of shoe suppliers on the internet, just type "ballroom shoes" "Latin American shoes" into your search engine and watch the options appear.

Blackpool Dance Festival
If you're planning to soak up some of the dancing atmosphere at the Blackpool British Dance Open 23rd - 31st May 2013, then it's definitely worth a visit to the exhibition area to see some of the main dance shoe suppliers - Supadance, Freed, Ray Rose, International Dance Shoes and more. www.blackpooldancefestival.co.uk

I hope this blog has provided some helpful hints and tips for purchasing your dance shoes.

Happy danczing.

Zoé x

Danczing the year away!!

Wow here we are in March already!! It's been a very busy start to the Dancz 2013 with lots of new starters (both children and adults) in January, and the dreaded Dancz ballroom exams on 10th February!! I'm thrilled to say that all our danczers did exceptionally well in their exams, and I was very proud of all their performances on the day.

It's already term 2 with more new starters joining the Dancz floor on both Sunday and Monday evenings. We introduced the Cha Cha this week, and I was thoroughly impressed with the amount that we managed to cover during our 45-minute session. Our previous October starters are now progressing on to the next level, where they're focussing on 2 routines; 1 ballroom and 1 Latin American. The beauty of Dancz is that there is always somewhere to progress on to.

The return of the Danczercise class has been a success with a number of danczers (male and female) taking to the Dancz floor each Monday evening at 7:00pm to learn a short solo Latin American danczing sequence (Cha Cha, Jive or Samba) which is then danczed through to pop music. I've found this class has really appealed to those people who just want to dancz without feeling the pressure of needing a partner. The added bonus of the pay on the door option is great for danczers who are unable to commit to a course for one reason or another.

There was definitely a buzz in the Dancz children's classes on Tuesday evening as we directed our attention back to Latin American danczing in preparation for our next Dancz exams. The children just love the fast dances :-)

We're all really looking forward to going back to Blackpool Tower in April for their Spring dance event. The addition of the Wednesday night Sequence class is enabling the danczers to focus on their Sequence danczing skills in preparation for our trip.

The new April - May 2013 course information will be out in the next couple of weeks, so look out for the information on the Dancz website.

Happy Danczing.

Zoé x

Camilla Dallerup comes to Dancz

Well I have to say we had a fabulous day at Dancz on Sunday, with Camilla Dallerup coming to entertain us with an afternoon filled with dancing workshops (ballroom and Latin American), coffee/tea and cakes and a Q&A session.

Camilla started the afternoon off with a Waltz workshop, concentrating firstly on the use of the standing leg, and also focusing on the importance of connection between dancing couples. I was pleased to see the danczers all working hard to grasp the idea, and it was great to watch the improvement during the time provided. Some of the male danczers were delighted to get to dance briefly with our Strictly Come Dancing star (winner 2008) - luckily we managed to get some photo evidence to prove that it was real!!!

  

Following a short interval, Camilla progressed on to the Latin with some work on the Rumba (my favourite dance!!). The danczers were reminded of the importance of the 'basic principles' and Camilla highlighted various areas where the danczers could improve on their skills. I particularly liked the 'tweezer' example that Camilla used, and will definitely be reminding the danczers of the comparison. At the end of the session we couldn't get the danczers off the floor, as they were danczing Camilla's Rumba Sequence like a formation group to get extra practice in- fabulous!!!

The final part of the afternoon was an afternoon tea dance incorporating a Q&A session with Camilla, this was a great opportunity for the danczers to ask Camilla any questions they had. The questions covered a wide range of topics, with some danczers asking about ways to improve their danczing, others asking about Strictly Come Dancing, and some taking an interest in Camilla's current projects.

A fabulous day was had by all, and everyone loved Camilla, her clear passion for dancing, and her commitment to passing on her expertise to all levels of dancer. Judging by Camilla's tweet to Dancz, she enjoyed her afternoon with the Danczers too:-

Camilla Dallerup ‏@CamillaDallerup

Great to see u too @Dancz_Cheshire what a lovely place and bunch speak soon again! xxx

It was interesting (from the feedback) to hear that each danczer took away something different from the event. The event clearly inspired the danczers as all the danczers who had attended the event returned to the Dancz floor a couple of hours later for their weekly dancz installment. We look forward to welcoming Camilla back on the Dancz floor in the near future.

Now all my attentions are directed towards the Dancz Christmas Ball (only 12 tickets remaining), and Dancz 2013. It's hard to believe that Dancz is 8 years old in January- madness!!!

Happy Danczing.

Zoe x

The Power of Strictly Come Dancing

It's fantastic to have Strictly Come Dancing back on the TV again, and great to see so much talent this year. I really enjoyed watching week 1 as the professionals had choreographed routines that included lots of 'basic' dancing steps.

It's amazing how Strictly Come Dancing really inspires the danczers:-
The Hold / Topline - over the last couple of weeks I've noticed a significant improvement with how many of my danczers are holding themselves, the comments from the judges have really made them take note and focus on how they're looking. A massive thank you to Len Goodman for clearly showing his disappointment with some of the Strictly Celebs toplines on Saturday, it was difficult to watch so many of the women just hanging off the men.

Footwork - I'm chuffed to bits that there's more focus on the 'footwork' in the early stages of Strictly Come Dancing competition. As Karen Hardy so perfectly described it - 'footwork is the foundation of great movement'. As I keep saying to my danczers I can tell when their footwork is poor without even having to look at their feet- a danczer with good footwork just looks balanced and controlled!!!

Arms and Finess - I must say that I sat chuckling to myself when I watched Strictly this weekend, it was almost as if Darcey had been part of my Friday morning class the day before. I spent most of the morning focussing on finess and completing arms "you've got 2 beats to finish that arm movement so make sure you use it", "extend the arm action right to the finger tip"

It's great that the Judges are talking about areas that I focus on in the classes, as then it's another reliable source of the same information- yippee.

I can't wait to see how the next couple of weeks turn out with the Strictly Class of 2012. It's hard to say who's going to win at this point, but there's definitely lots of contenders - exciting times.

I'm just in the process of finalising the information for the new term commencing in November. The beginners information went online last week, and we've already filled over half of the places - the Power of Strictly Come Dancing!!!

Happy Danczing.

Zoe x

Back to Dancz - yippee

Good Afternoon Danczers, Visitors and Friends,

Happy Friday!!

Well I'm back from my holidays, and my break away from the Dancz floor, and I'm raring to go (danczers beware). It was fantastic to be back on the Dancz floor on Wednesday for the Dancz / Cinnamon Club open evening. Thank you to everyone who came along for a taste of the Dancz experience, it was lovely to see so many people on the Dancz floor again, and that's without Strictly Come Dancing even starting yet. The evening was a great success with many people signing up on the night for the new absolute beginners course starting on the Monday 1st October 7:00pm. http://www.dancz.co.uk/Beginners.aspx

I am so lucky to have a talented photographer as part of the Dancz family, so a big thank you to Trudy for taking some great shots of Wednesday evening, and for capturing all the danczers looking fantastic - you should see the stylish arm usage on the photies- proud teacher alert!!!

I've got Strictly Come Dancing set on the planner, all ready to go for tomorrow evening. It's hard to believe that a year ago I was sat there behind the judges on the opening show - time flies. The line up is great this year, and it just goes to show how popular the dancing is, and how influential it can be from the 'names' who want to be a part of it. I'm really looking forward to watching Nicky from Westlife, it'll be interesting to see whether he can transfer his musicality on to the Dancz floor. As always, I'll be rooting for a man to win, it's definitely a lot harder for them to dance as they have to lead the lady as well.

I'm very much looking forward to the start of the new term on Sunday, and to seeing everyone back on the Dancz floor again.

Happy Danczing.

Zoe x

Nearly the end of another Dancz school year!!!

Good Afternoon Danczers and Visitors

I can't believe it's over a month since I published my last post!! It's been a busy month at Dancz, and Dancz HQ - Dancz exams, the end of another Dancz term, Dancz end of term outings!!

The IDTA Dancz exams on Sunday 8th July went really well, with all the Danczers achieving impressive results - especially the adults. All the Danczers worked extremely hard for the Latin American medals, so I was pleased that they achieved great results for their hard work and dedication.

We all had a lovely evening at La Vina in Hale last night for the Dancz end of term outing. It's such a pleasure to see the friendships that have been formed as a result of attending Dancz, and it just goes to show that Dancz is soooo much more than just a danczing school.

We're on the final countdown before we close for Summer this Wednesday 25th July. It's been a really busy and demanding year at Dancz, so I must admit that I am ready for a break, and I'm looking forward to recharging my batteries in time for September. All the information for the new term will be available to view on http://www.dancz.co.uk/ from mid August so you'll be able to see what's on the Dancz schedule then.

Hope you all have a lovely summer.

Zoe xxx

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The joys of Dancz

Hello Danczers and Visitors,

It seems like a while since I posted my last entry. It was nice to have some time off during the Jubilee celebrations to recharge my batteries. As always dancing featured as part of my time off with a visit to Blackpool Wintergardens to watch the open professional Latin competition. I had a fantastic time, and it was fabulous to get to see some exceptionally talented dancers in action. This week sees the start of another Dancz term- this will be our last full term until September!!

This term we've spiced up our timetable with the addition of sequence danczing. We've decided to dance the popular sequence dances to pop music, to make it appealing to danczers of all ages to join in. I'm really looking forward to the class this evening - it's always nice to teach something new.

We had fun during last nights class with the introduction of the Fleckerl in the Viennese Waltz. There was a lot of reverse (left) Fleckerl turning, I'm surprised we were all able to walk in a straight line by the end of the session. As promised please find the rhyme to help you master the sequence
Men
In front, side, in front, side, behind, side

Ladies
Side, behind, side, in front, side, in front

I'm sure I'll be able to tell those who have practiced off the Dancz floor.

Happy Danczing.

Zoe x