tango: walk this way

For the Men.

First things first.  Yes, you can walk into any dance supply store and buy ‘tango shoes’ for men.  Unlike the ladies there isn’t just one brand that i’d recommend.  Its really about comfort for you.  Because these shoes for men, look and feel pretty much like normal dress street shoes with a slightly more tailored heel and pad. And really truth be told, store bought shoes from a dance supply store from my perspective look about as much fun as watching paint dry. It just feels so…plastic and ballroomy to me. FAKE!
Or you can go out and buy a pair of Puma’s today and be very happy.  You’ll look very flashy.  However, as I said to the ladies above, you haven’t learned how to walk yet.  So my cheap advice to you is bring a pair of old sneakers to class and put masking tape over the pads of your feet!  I know there are a lot of tango teachers out there that will cringe at that advice.  Not to mention I’m undercutting the dance supply stores.  Fact is: LEARN HOW TO WALK FIRST, then go invest in a pair of shoes.
At some point you’re going to want a real pair of flashy leader shoes.  And there are many of them, so here’s a few links for you to play with. And YES, you’ll be ordering these DIRECTLY from Argentina.

Victoria Shoes: http://www.victoriotangoshoes.com.ar/
Neo Tango: http://www.neotangoshoes.com/
and my personal favorite
2×4 al Pie: http://www.2x4alpie.com/

That last one is by far and above, the flashiest of the bunch, and also in my opinion the swankiest, and the most functional of the bunch!. Why ? Most leader shoes, if not all of them, in my opinion after having been through a fair amount of them to the tune of $150 to $200 a pop, suffer from one thing that you can’t get away from in the tango world: they’re all leather, and therefore need to be ‘broken in’, and furthermore are all stiff in the wrong areas. For my money, I want a shoe that looks like a tango shoe but ISN’T one. Its light on the foot, soft to the touch, has a minimal cheese factor, and is functional like a sneaker but with ‘support’, and has the same capabilities as my pumas with the pad of the foot replaced! This shoe does all of that and more, in spades. Order a pair and you’ll see what I mean. They come with 3 different soles that are interchangable for different surfaces that you may dance on. They come with an inner soul that has arch support but yet the shoe itself is much like a dance sneaker. Its All leather and VERY VERY soft and light. There’s give but not GIIIIVE! And lastly, they look pretty damned HOT. For my 540.00 Pesos ($150 american) I want a shoe that does all of that and will last more than 20 seconds. 2×4 Al Pie do that, and then some.