Dance Shoes

CAP21 requires certain kinds of dance shoes: ballet, jazz and tap. Well, my ballet shoes were from Payless, my jazz shoes have giant holes in the bottom due to performing in outdoor theatre, and I don't even want to talk about the state of my taps. So Mom and I went off on a mission today: purchase dance shoes for the summer (and for all the dancing I do in future musicals too, of course! =D).

Well, I hate shoe shopping to begin with--I'm decidedly un-girly in that way. I hate shoe shopping, I hate trying to find my right size, I hate breaking shoes in. I'm very picky about the things I wear. I have wide feet, which means I tend to have a hard time finding shoes that fit. I also have small feet, which is irrelevant to this post but is true about my feet. (Small feet are convenient though--I usually can grab the display shoe and it'll pretty much fit.) But dance shoes are different than normal shoes. I don't need them to look cute, since I just need them to be practical. I need them to really fit my feet, since I'll be on my feet, dancing, for long periods of time. And they need to move well. Obviously.

I got my tap shoes pretty quickly. I'm not much of a tapper (I can do a basic time step and some simple moves, but I'm nowhere near calling myself an experienced tap dancer), so I got a pair that was not uncomfortable, stayed on my feet and was cheap. Ballet shoes weren't too bad either. Got a pair of Bloch ballet shoes that fit pretty well and aren't uncomfortable, though they're a teeny bit long.

But the jazz shoes took forever. For some reason I couldn't find a pair that I liked. I was pickier with these because I tend to wear jazz shoes more than ballet shoes in the random dancing I do--I'm wearing them for the MT Singing/Dancing class I'm teaching now, and I wore them for my show. So I wanted them to be really comfortable. But every pair I wore were either too long, too tight, digging into my heels or didn't move. After more pairs than I can count (I feel bad for the girl helping us--she kept going back and forth between the storage room and my chair), I finally picked another pair of Bloch shoes. Apparently they'll stretch out, which might not be the best thing, since they too are a bit long. But they didn't hurt. And even though they weren't as flexible as some of the other shoes, they'll do the trick. Honestly, I bet you anything that when I wear them in class, my feet won't be hurting from shoes. They'll be aching from the massive amounts of dancing I get to do. (YAY! Haha!)

[Random: did you know Bloch also sells normal shoes? As in, non-dance. I had no idea until we went into the dance store. And some of them were cute! But not cute enough to try on. Like I said, I'm picky.]

After that exciting adventure (NOT!) we went into a Macys, because Mom had some coupons. And I bought this adorable Fossil bag:

The picture sucks, but trust me, it's adorable. It's a messengar bag style with lots of colorful flowers. It has tons of pockets, including 2 on the outside (one zippered, one not) that'll be great for storing a cell phone or something else you need quickly. And the inside is the perfect size for a couple of notebooks or thin textbooks. Unfortunately, it'll probably be too small for all the homework I tend to bring to classes, and it's definitely too small for my huge binders of music, but it's great for other events where I need to have paperwork. And it's colorful and cute! I'm so excited. I love Fossil brand. I also really love the brand Haiku. Both companies feature lots of pockets in their purses, use space effeciently, and look really cute. Win win WIN!