Dance! - The Road to Heavies: lesson 43, October 31, 2014. Soft shoes and pain...

Dancing with my 'uniform' on

To find out how easy (or tough) it is to dance in uniform, I take my trousers and shirt. It's not earlier than at danceclass that I found out that I also took my shorts and T-shirt with me. It's so common to take that both with me that I not even thought about leaving them home.

Besides my clothing 3 pair of shoes now travel with me in my bag. I would have never thought I, at some point, would own 5 pair of shoes as a male. (3 pair of dance shoes, 1 pair of shoes for daily use, and a pair of safety shoes for work).

Soft shoes too small? No! Exactly 'right'!

I first ask my teacher about the size of my shoes, but they prove to be right. Just like heavy shoes, these also have to stretch a little.
She grabs and looks at them for a while, and warns me not to be scared. She then firmly grabs the tip and heel of the shoes and starts to bend them with force, in an attempt to fold the sole, about the same idea as breaking in pointe shoes for ballet. "You can also fold them backwards and forwards, lift the couch and place them under them and let the couch rest on them, don't worry!"

After that, I put on my clothes, which now are a pair or real trousers and a lightblue shirt. I get the slightly surprised question if I will be competing in a competition. I reply that that's what I want to do, but inside of me, I'm still in doubt. Well, first let's see what this class brings.
Unfortunately, I discover a hole in my left sock, around where my big toe is. Pity about the expensive Falke, but as it is already with me for 2,5 years, I should not complain. My dance shoes and especially real soft ones, are making it worse.

Reel shoes: telltale for a lack of technique

During warm-up, the soft shoes prove to have an advantage. My left foot is not as firm yet and my heel hits the floor when I move. A clear click now gives this away, where my sneakers hardly provided feedback. If that is a lack of strength in my muscles or that I need to get used to the higher heel, is unknown to me.

Things do get very sore very quickly though. When I mess up the Beginners Reel halfway through and start over, I scare the crap out of myself when I get to the 'hop-heel-turn-over-heel-turn'. At 'heel' your foot has to point upwards as much as possible, while you swivel it from the inside to the outside, with your heel acting as the pivoting point on the floor.

The heel of my sneakers was rather round and most importantly, made of rubber. That provided nice friction on the rubber protective flooring. Now I've got the solid heel under my feet I nearly slip and I mess up immediately as I lose my balance. I also really think the heel of my soft-shoe is higher, which makes sure I'm not familiar on when I hit the floor.
Relaxation comes with my heavy shoes. Never before did I long for putting those on and darn, what a nice, comfy feeling are they...

My teacher really likes the colour of my shirt by the way, although I don't completely understand why. I manage to catch something like 'Looks just like a school uniform' in a general conversation, but don't understand what she means.