PureDWTS Ask Courtney: Why Do Ladies Have to Wear Heels For Ballroom/Latin?
I confess: no one specifically asked this question, but some of you may have noticed that tend to get bit irritated whenever a female celeb or pro on the show opts to forgo the traditional heels in favor of boots, sneakers, or going barefoot. I thought I’d explain just why I get my knickers in such a twist over it 🙂
There are two primary reasons why heels are worn in both the Latin & ballroom dances: the first is aesthetic, and the other is technical. Aesthetically, the shoes are worn to give the the women’s legs a long, lean appearance – the neutral flesh tone of the fabric blends nicely with the skin, giving a nice, long, unbroken line; the heels themselves of course make the women look taller, which in turn enhances the illusion of long legs. You may have noticed that the women on the show don’t often wear colored dance shoes – that’s because a color that contrasts with the skin tends to “chop off” those nice long lines, and make the women’s legs look shorter. Why is it so important to have long legs? Because the longer your legs are, the nicer your lines are going to look, and the better technique you’re going to show – and the happier the judges are. 🙂
From a technical aspect, the shoes actually help to ensure that the ladies are using the proper technique in their dances. Remember my post about heel & toe leads? Well the shoes that the ladies wear for Latin are specially balanced so that the ladies’ body weight is shifted over her toes – and remember, all the Latin dances move forward (and backward) with a toe lead. The ballroom shoes tend to keep the ladies’ body weight balanced evenly on her heels & toes, much like normal shoes, as all the steps in the ballroom dances move forward on the heel and backward on the toe – just like normal walking. The shoes alone can’t guarantee that a dancer will always have the right technique – but they certainly do help!
So let’s say a woman *cough*Lacey*cough* decides to forgo wearing the proper shoes while dancing, and instead wears something more flat-footed, like boots. In the Latin dances, it’s probably going to result in her legs looking very short & stubby, and her lines not as impressive. Case in point: Lance & Lacey’s cha-cha in season 7:
Or, in Hope’s case this past season, those boots just gave her a complete lack of hip action, and resulted in a very flat, boring rumba:
The effect is a bit less noticeable in the ballroom dances, since they move so similarly to natural walking movement, and I can’t really think of a time on the show that someone has danced a ballroom dance barefoot. However, I do remember Twitch & Kherington’s Viennese waltz routine from season 4 of SYTYCD, and I remember not being wild about them doing it barefoot, as it just looked somewhat “unfinished” and more like contemporary than real ballroom:
So there you have it – you be the judge. I personally think that all ballroom & Latin dances should be done in the proper footwear, and it’s only (semi)acceptable to go barefoot if you’re a pro doing a contemporary-ish pro dance. But what do you guys think? 🙂
I couldn’t agree more, Courtney!! I love when they wear heels and not boots. Excellent write-up as always!!!!
Cool article, Court! I have a question though… the whole balance thing makes a lot of sense and I find myself wondering if the same thing holds true for the men?
@Evaine – It actually does hold true for men as well. Men do have a heel on their Latin shoes (albeit a shorter and chunkier one) and their ballroom shoes are basically flat, similar to most men’s dress shoes. You’ll also notice that most of them wear black pants, and matching black shoes – keeps the line intact 🙂
Hi Courtney! Quick question – in college I took a class on the history of dance and I remember reading that anytime the dancers perform barefoot, the dance is automatically considered contempory. Is that true? Thanks!
My opinion yes for traditional ballroom wear the heels. The Twitch and Kerington dance you mentioned is one of my all time favorite dances that has been on SYTYCD…that particular waltz to me was not so much about the technique it’s more so about the emotion and meaning behind it. I actually saw that dance when they did it on tour and i think had the had worn shoes it would have taken away the performance.
I think for me it really depends on the dance itself and if the choreography is going for a traditional or non traditional. I personally like when the girls go barefoot for the rumba it makes it more earthy…but thats from my point of as a dancer whose background that isnt ballroom.
@Rebecca – Hmmm…good question. I think that opinion may be from the days when contemporary was still considered a fairly new style of dance, and up until that point most other established dance styles were done in a specific type of footwear (i.e. pointe shoes, tap shoes, ballroom shoes, etc.) So within that context, anything not done in footwear could be considered “contemporary”, since one of the defining characteristics of the early contemporary style was that it was done barefoot. Nowadays, I think the lines are more blurred – especially on shows like SYTYCD, where the ballroom routines often have a very contemporary feel to them, even though they may be doing ballroom steps; or in some of the pro dances on DWTS, where the routines are done barefoot and are a combination of ballroom steps and lifts with a more contemporary feel. So I think that barefootedness (is that a word?) could be considered to impart at least a contemporary “feel” to the dance, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a hard & fast rule – especially when I think of Lance & Lacey’s rumba, which was done barefoot but was still a proper rumba, in terms of steps. I also think of forms of dance indigenous to certain ethnic groups – i.e. Afro-Cuban folk dances, classical Indian dances like kathak & bharatanatyam – which are also done barefoot; I wouldn’t really categorize them as contemporary, either. So I guess my official stance is that doing a dance barefoot can give a dance a contemporary “feel”, but doesn’t necessarily constitute a contemporary dance. 🙂
Men do indeed wear ‘Cuban heels’ for Latin dances. Anywhere from 1 to 2 inches, usually. They help with hip action and keeping your weight forward, just like with the ladies. Given that we ware pants, ‘lengthening the line’ is less of a concern, though.
*wear
Ugh. Sorry.
I never knew that men had heels for latin dances. Wow! very interesting and informative article Courtney! Thanks!!
I’ve always wondered why the ladies almost always wear the flesh colored heels….now I know!
What a great article; very informative and fun.
Wanted to add, because of you Courtney, I learned what Character shoes are. It was a couple of seasons ago that you mentioned your dislike of them in a post (think Lacey was the one wearing them). So, I googled them…learned everything there was to know about Character shoes (well, maybe not everything!). So, thanks. 🙂
Not a fan of the Kherington waltz. Rumor had it she struggled with heels. It bothers me if the purpose of the show it to adapt and dance different styles. Nigel loved her regardless but I hate how most of ballroom on that show is more contemporary. I take issue with Laceys technique overall. Not just with her shoes. 🙂
I had already guessed some of this. Thanks for filling in the rest of the blanks 🙂
Thanks for the great blog, Courtney! I too prefer that the dancers wear the proper footwear when competing. It bothered me when some dancers (like Lacey) would wear the flat boots or bare feet because the dance didn’t look as nice. I think Chelsea Kane also wore some kind of shoe that didn’t make her so tall because she was already noticeably taller than mark with her heels on. I think it affects me more when the women don’t wear heels rather than the men wear something different (like sneakers to dance).
All of the “Ask Courtney” posts on dance have been informative and interesting to me. I hope you’ll feel free to address our collective ignorance whenever the spirit moves you, C.
Thanks for the great article regarding footwear, @Courtney.
Ride on sister,!amerimark