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Choosing Tap Shoes
I'm often asked what shoe is appropriate for what level of student, and there are always more questions that someone should answer before investing in a tap shoe. Here are a few things to consider: 1. What level are you? Beginner? Intermediate? Advanced? Pre-professional? Professional?
2. How serious are you about your training? How often do you dance per week?
3. How old are you? Is your body telling you that you could use a little extra protection in the ankle/knee/foot area?
4. What style of tap will you be doing? Rhythm tap? Show tap?
5. What is your budget? Here are my basic recommendations based on nearly 20 years of teaching tap and testing shoes. CAPEZIO MARY JANES (Beginner/Intermediate; once a week dancer; all ages; all styles; low budget)
Terrific bang for your buck. This shoe is great for beginners of all ages, from elementary school to 80 year olds! It comes with removable little clip-on bows for kids and has a solid, full sole with Teletone Taps and regular fiberboards. It retails at about $20 - $30. Comparable but untested model would be Bloch's S0352 Merry Jane. Same price range, same features, different brand. BLOCH JAZZ TAP SHOE #0301 (Intermediate; once to three times a week dancers; all ages; better for rhythm tap; mid-range) A nice shoe that was wisely redesigned a few years back, the Bloch is my shoe of choice for most students I see come through a typical dance studio. Running about $50-$60, it is a solid shoe with fairly good taps (would prefer Teletone's sound, but Bloch is getting closer with time). The lace up design helps the dancer get a good fit in the arch that a Mary Jane or "baby" tap shoe doesn't provide. That said, the shoe could use a little more arch support for some students - try using your orthodics inside or even a Dr. Scholl's support from the drugstore. Getting harder to find over time. CAPEZIO GOLD CG09/CAPEZIO TELETONE XTREME CG55(Intermediate/Advanced; multiple times a week; age - junior high and up; great for rhythm tap; mid-range) A heftier shoe made on a better last, the CG09 had a one-screw Rayow tap design that drove me nuts. Many dancers wore them because they were "loud", but that was literally all the merit the taps had. They were meant to be tuneable, but every dancer I knew broke their taps or couldn't get a shaded tone out of them to save themselves. Now, the CG55 seems to be its replacement, and though I haven't worn the shoe myself, it appears that they've merely change the tap and kept the rest of the shoe. I would highly recommend this shoe to anyone who is trying to get high quality without jumping to a professional level shoe. Carried widely. CAPEZIO MANHATTAN XTREME 657 (Advanced/Pre-Professional/Professional; multiple times a week; adults; the best shoe available for women's show tap; mid-range) I can't get enough of these shoes. At 2 1/2", the heel is flatteringly feminine, and with its wrapped sole, the support is terrific. The footbed is cushioned, which helps out with those long rehearsals, and the sound really is amazingly better than any heels I've ever owned. The only downside was having to punch several holes to get the straps to be snug to my feet. Most dance stores aren't carrying this shoe, but will order them for you. Also available in most catalogs. CAPEZIO K360/TAP PRO (Advanced/Pre-Pro/Professional; multiple times a week to every day; best shoe available for rhythm tap; high end price range) Worth every cent, K360 are hand-made, customized Italian leather shoes that will last you for years if you are not beating them to death every day (as some of us do). Available with a steel shank or without, the K360 can also be ordered with a ready-made double sole, also referred to as the "Tap Pro" when it comes from the factory. These are the shoes that nearly every professional tap dancer wears, though they are highly customized for each individual. Extra heel stacks, steel sound boards, molded leather half soles behind the taps... the list of possibilities is endless. If you get to this point in your shoe search, your best bet is to find someone at Capezio in NY to answer your questions. There are two guys in the nation who know what they're doing on these shoes: Pete (who works for Capezio in Manahttan), and Matt (who owns The Dancing Fair in Minnesota). Good luck, and feel free to shoot me any other questions you have... Keep it copasetic!
Sarah |
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