The short answer
What to wear to a salsa class
Comfortable clothes you can move in, and shoes you can turn in. That is the whole requirement. There is no dress code at our Monday classes and no footwear requirement.
The only thing that matters
What actually matters about shoes
One thing: whether the sole lets you turn.
Cuban salsa turns on the ball of the foot, constantly. A shoe with a lot of grip stops the foot rotating while the rest of the leg keeps going, and that is hard on a knee. A running shoe with a thick grippy sole is the least comfortable thing you can wear, which surprises most people, because it is also the most comfortable thing to walk in.
You will turn constantly in Cuban salsa, but you will rarely spin. Spins, meaning several rotations on the spot, belong more to the linear styles such as LA and New York salsa, which lean further towards performing. Cuban salsa grew up as a street dance, danced wherever there was music: in a nightclub, on the street, at the beach, at home. A dance that has to work on sand or a footpath is built around turning with a partner rather than spinning on the spot. That is why the sole matters more than the shoe: it is the turning that a grippy sole fights.
The floor at Robina Community Centre is timber, which is forgiving. You do not need suede soles to cope with it.
The tape trick
Here is the tip nobody tells beginners: a strip of gaffer tape across the sole turns almost any shoe into a dancing shoe. Put it under the ball of the foot, the part you turn on, and a shoe that gripped and stuck will let you rotate. It costs almost nothing, it peels off afterwards, and it means you can dance in what you already own instead of buying anything.
What not to wear
Brand new gripping trainers, which put pressure on the knee and can risk injury. Flip flops or backless sandals, which come off mid turn, and that is funny once. Anything that restricts your arms or your legs, because turn patterns need a full range of motion. And heels you cannot already walk in: a social dance floor is not the place to learn a new heel height, so if you dance in heels, bring the ones you know.
Everything else is fine. People come in jeans, in gym gear, and occasionally straight from work in office clothes.
What works, easiest first
- Smooth-soled flats or loafers, low heel or none.
- Older trainers with worn soles. The worn part is the useful part.
- Any shoe at all, with gaffer tape across the sole.
- Proper dance shoes, if you already own them.
When it is worth buying dance shoes
Not for your first class.
The point at which dance shoes start to make sense is when you are dancing often enough that you feel the difference in the sole is doing something for you. Of course, many people enjoy wearing nice shoes as a fashion statement and that is fine too – Cubans are no exception!
Most people who come to our classes may decide to invest in some dance shoes after a few months, and plenty of very good social dancers are perfectly fine with their street shoes.
Dance shoes have soles intended for clean wooden dance floors, so we do not recommend wearing expensive dance shoes to street parties!
Fit matters more than brand and more than price.
What to bring
- Water bottle.
- Deodorant and a spare shirt, especially if you sweat a lot.
- Breath mints or chewing gum. Your partners will appreciate it.
- Comfortable clothes and shoes (see above).
When you are ready
Where people buy them in Australia
It’s hard to find good dance shoes on the Gold Coast, and buying online can be risky. It’s good to know where you can go to find quality shoes for a reasonable price.
These are the three we point people at. We have no arrangement with any of them and we do not get anything if you buy.
For women
JJ's House has a wide range at the cheaper end. Read the reviews under each shoe before you order, because sizing varies a lot between styles. Latin Dance Shoes Australia, at Mojo Dance sells proper Latin dance shoes from a dance shop rather than a general retailer.
For men
Leslie Shoes, also trading as Misti Dance Footwear makes hand-made leather dance shoes in Padstow in Sydney. Alex, who makes them, will do custom colours and styles, and sends them by mail order. If you are going to own one pair of dance shoes for the next ten years, this is where we would send you.
Ask on a Monday as well. Somebody in the room will have an opinion, usually a strong one, and they will have bought a pair recently enough for it to be worth hearing.
Still not sure?
- Wear whatever you have got.
- Nobody is going to look at your feet.
- Read what else to expect.
