Shoes with suede soles are essential when it comes to dancing. Suede soles are not made for walking; instead, they are made for dancing. In this article, you will find out if suede soles are slippery and the importance of having slippery soles while dancing.
Are suede soles slippery? Yes, suede soles are slippery, and shoes with suede soles are not meant for anything but dancing. Suede soles allow the shoes to glide across the floor with the right amount of traction.
If you are like me, you already wore regular shoes with a traditional rubber sole to a dance lesson and experienced the discomfort that rubber sole shoes bring.
Once I switched to dance shoes with suede soles, I noticed an enormous difference in my performance. Suddenly, my moves seemed effortless, and I could slide across the dance floor with ease.
Why Are Suede Soles Slippery?
Shoes that have slippery soles are the best for dancing. More specifically, suede sole dance shoes are ideal for Ballroom and Latin dance styles.
Suede soles will benefit you greatly on the dance floor. Suede sole dance shoes will help you turn, move, and feel the dance floor much better than any other shoes.
Suede soles will help you dance comfortably, smoothly, and correctly.
Suede soles allow the shoes to be more flexible, which provides dancers better feeling of the dance floor.
Suede soles allow dancers to slide, glide, and move easily. Regular shoes have rubber soles that provide an excellent grip. But that is not something you really want when dancing Latin or Ballroom dances.
Wearing regular shoes with rubber soles feels like glue on the bottom of your shoes, making your performance on the dance floor much more difficult.
How Do You Make Suede Soles Slippery For Dancing
Suede soles are naturally slippery, but there is a way if you want to make them even more slippery for dancing.
Slippery suede sole shoes may prevent injuries while dancing. You may want to ask how because slippery shoes and injury go hand in hand together. Well, not exactly when it comes to dancing.
Wearing shoes with a firm grip on the surface can make you put more effort while dancing, which could lead to foot injuries. Slippery shoes allow your feet to adjust comfortably and move as you dance, preventing dance-related injuries.
Here are a few methods on how to make your shoes more slippery for dancing:
- Sandpaper method. Use sandpaper only if you intend to have those shoes only for dancing because once you do this method, you can’t wear those shoes for your day-to-day activity. Use coarse sandpaper that can scrape off textured patterns on your shoe sole.
- Gaffer tape method. This is an excellent temporary solution if you want to use your shoes for dancing and regular everyday use. Once you are done with dancing, you can remove the gaffer tape.
- Suede paper method. This is another excellent temporary solution if you don’t want to alter your shoes permanently. Once you are done dancing, just peel the suede paper off. It will not damage your soles at all.
Can You Wear Suede Soles Shoes Outside
Suede sole shoes should not be worn outside because if the sole gets wet, the sole will be ruined. Also, suede soles are ideal for smooth floors such as dancing floors, not for uneven surfaces such as pavement, grass, or anything that you could expose your shoes when wearing them outside.
Suede sole dance shoes can be pricey, so they will break down and wear out quickly when you walk on pavement. So please don’t risk it. Just wear your regular shoes if you have an event outdoors.
Once you start wearing your suede sole dance shoes outside, they will lose their purpose, which is the grip that gives you traction on the dance floor.
To learn more about what shoes you could wear outside and which ones you should not, please check out the article ‘Can You Wear Dance Shoes Outside” to learn more about this topic.
How Do You Brush Suede Soles?
The Suede sole has a very soft appearance. Dance shoes should use crone suede for the soles because of their unique characteristics of tractions compared to the slip.
After dance shoes get worn out, they have a shiny, leather-like appearance from the floor’s friction.
To bring the suede sole back to life, you will need a good brush. A good brush should have an easy handle to grab and sharp teeth. Ensure that brush has angled and sharp teeth and flaps to cover the teeth because it will protect your clothing and shoe bag.
To start, make sure to have a firm grip on the brush and hold the shoe tightly by the top where the laces are. For safety reasons, make sure that your fingers are not exposed to the shoe area where you will be brushing because these brushes have sharp needles, and they can easily cut your fingers.
Suede soles with a lot of damage require lots of force, so don’t be afraid to be aggressive with the brush. If you brush the shoe suede sole properly, you will notice that the suede sole will be coming back to life after a few strokes.
The best technique to brush suede sole is to alternate the brush strokes in a criss-cross pattern. You will ensure that you don’t cut deep into the sole if you use this technique.
After brushing for a while, you will notice how suede slowly returns to its original appearance.
Here is an excellent video by Azucar to show you visually how to brush dance shoes properly.
Click here to check out the brush I would recommend on Amazon.
Pro-Tip
If you don’t have a shoe brush handy, you can use coarse sandpaper. It will not do an excellent job as a shoe brush would do, but it can serve as a temporary solution until you get a hold of a proper shoe brush.
Final Words
Shoes with suede soles are essential when it comes to dancing. Suede soles are slippery because they provide enough traction and grip on the dance floor. These shoes should be treated as safety equipment because it is very easy to get injured if you are not wearing proper dance shoes. Suede soled shoes are not meant for anything but dancing. So please don’t wear them outside or uneven or dirty surfaces.
Happy dancing!
