Clean your shoes!

Let's be honest, the stinkiest parts of a dancer's body are her feet. When I was growing up, we wore leather shoes with full-footed tights (pink for both, naturally). Because of the layer of nylon tights, the shoes themselves never got tremendously smelly.  We could hang them to dry after class and be assured that the next day, they would be in decent shape.

But nowadays, footless tights and canvas shoes are hugely popular in the studio. Teens and adults, amateurs and pros, go barefoot in their slippers and pointe shoes. And those shoes reek after just a few hours of wear!

The good news about canvas slippers is you can toss them in the wash.  Yes, that's right - into the machine they go with all of your other dance clothes. Here are a few tips:

1. Use warm water, not hot. You can also soak them in a sink with Woolite but they will take longer to dry.

2. Include the little mesh bag too.

3. Skip the dryer.

4a. Shape the wet shoes by pressing out any bulges under the toes and ball of the foot, as well as the heels. Use your hands to make the inside of the shoe very flat.

4b. Shape the outside of the shoe by poofing up the toes and heel as if there were an invisible foot inside it. 

5. Hang them on a hanger by the elastic straps.

6. Let dry overnight.


Notes: You may find if you wear a brand like Capezio that the thin leather layer on the inside begins to lift.  Just peel it off and throw it away. It actually doesn't do much and will only bunch up under your toes when you sweat anyway.


And if you still wear leather, you can't wash them but you can hang them to air out.  You can also use a spray anti-bacterial from a brand like Dr. Scholl's which will make them smell less rank by killing the germs inside them.  

Happy dancing~

From the mailbag...

In the comments section below, Kelly asked the question, "Canvas or leather? Which do you prefer?"

Personally, I love canvas slippers because they're A) washable and B) cheaper. They work well on both marley and wood floors and for the price of a single pair of leather shoes, I can own 2 pairs of canvas. I like Sansha Pro 1C. Capezio Juliet II are also nice but they tend to grow holes too fast. I usually alternate between the pairs, so I always have a clean pair. If you go barefoot in your slippers, instead of wearing tights over your feet, canvas is great because when they get smelly (the shoes, not your feet!), you just throw them in the wash and hang to dry.

Now, those are the pro's. There are some cons to canvas:
--they wear out faster, often getting holes or tears in the toes within a couple months of daily wear (but you can sew them up to get a little extra life out of them)
--the effect of rosin on the shoes. Leather takes the build-up of rosin well but rosin on canvas gets hard and clumpy (but you can scrape it off and wash them so that's some compensation)
--canvas doesn't fit as closely to the foot as leather. You can get a nice tight fit from leather while canvas tends to stretch out (but canvas does get snug again when you wash it)

In the end, it's a matter of what you prefer, what fits you best, and what surface you dance on most often. Thanks for asking, Kelly!

And now, to prove I do indeed teach, here are some photos of a recent Level 4 class that the parent of one of my students took. Thanks to Claire Vorhis! That's her daughter, Sarah Jo, the lovely redhead I'm instructing on the ecarte line: