tango: walk this way

For Men & For Women & My Classes

You’ll see women ‘leading’ and men ‘following’ (it does happen and pay close attention to these people, because truth be told, they’re 1000 times better than you right now, and about 100 times better than any dancer in the room, and there’s a reason for it), how are they able to do that, they don’t have the right shoes ?  In this instance, its not about the shoes folks, its about the skillset.  However, having good footwear will save your feet for those long hours on the dance floor.  So I recommend the following for leaders OR followers for my classes, practicas, and/or even at the milongas: SANSHA’S.  Dynamo S30′s. You will thank me later.  There is ONE and ONLY 1 precautionary tale about these shoes.  They have no arch support.  So do not wear them longer than 6 hrs at a stretch per day.  However you can add arch support for them.  Also they run small.  So get 2 sizes bigger than your normal street shoe, at least for the men.

Because you’re ordering online, you’ll have to order several pairs to get just the right fit.  However, if you’re in New York City, you can go by their retail outlet on 8th Avenue and 53rd St. (which is actually on the corner of 53rd Street and just a little back from the street) go there.  I strongly suggest if you go, that you call them a few days ahead of your visit and make certain that they have the colors that you want in the sizes that you want.  They will order them for you with no obligation for you to buy them.  You’re going to end up buying them anyway, but its good to know that a retailer like this exists.  Now lastly, and here’s the real secret to working with these shoes: Walk in them for a few hours a week.  You need to break in the pads of the feet, so find some SOFT Concrete.  Not too coarse or pourous, but soft concrete, the kind that’s very similar to slate or shale in texture, and has just enough coarsness to it, but not much.  And you want to scrape the sole, and really the pads of the sole, against that surface.  The reason being is that you want to make the rubber sole pliable for later on down the line when you start doing ochos and sacadas and all sorts of craziness.

So my advice is this: Buy a pair of Sansha’s!