I've seen people before a dance putting duct tape on the bottom of their sneakers... Do a lot of people do this?? I guess that is to negate the traction of sneakers' rubber soles. Is it that effective that people prefer it to having dancing shoes (lether soles, etc)?
A number of Lindy Hoppers that I know do this. It is a lot cheaper than buying dance shoes!! And one persistant problem is that there are no swing dance shoes for women, and prior to Aris Allens, were no shoes for men - although some would still argue about the Aris Allens. So athletic shoes with leather, duct tape, or other fast things on the bottom is the answer with duct tape being the cheapest option.
I've found that a pretty cheap option for swing shoes. I bought some sneakers (the less traed the better, like adidas classic shoes or keds) and had a shoe repairman glue suede to the bottom. The whole thing cost me about $50 (shoes and the repairman fee) but they're so comfortable to dance in. You can also do it yourself with suede bought from a craft store -Michelle an ex-duct-taper
I should know the reason why, but I don't... why do lindyhoppers prefer dancing in duct-taped shoes rather than actually buying proper dance shoes? (Oh, duh... $). Also, is there a difference between the proper "swing shoes" and other dance shoes? I guess in some cases there is if you do a lot of jumping and aerials, you need the added padding of regular athletic shoes. It just never made any sense to me. They like the old pre-50's big band sound, but they dance with shoes that make them look like Run DMC.
Obviously, it's due to the high percentage of geeks (ie, engineer types) drawn to Lindy. Duct tape is the tool for choice for almost everything. [grin] -------------------------- "You need only two tools: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the duct tape."
It's also really hard to find "proper" dance shoes for lindy hop. I have a pair of bloc that I dance in, but they give me tooo much traction. A lot of lindy events are held places with less than desirable floors, so the ducktape make shoes slick enough for floors that aren't slick at all. If you're looking for "proper" shoes, there are some online companies that sell "lindy" shoes, but the variety just isn't what it is in ballroom shoes and a lot of people find them uncomfortable.
Oh yea, I forgot , money isn't always and issue. I know some lindy hoppers who have dropped a pretty penny on shoes, but they didn't buy "lindy" shoes, they bought normal dress loafers with a hard leather sole, very slippery. Ihave to admit, a night of lindy hurts my feet a WHOLE lot less than a night of ballroom in my 3" latin heels....
Look at Whitey's Lindy Hoppers in some of the old movies - like A Day At The Races or Hellsapoppin. The women are wearing tennis shoes!! The persistant problem - especially for women - really is the lack of good looking, fast, swing dance worthy shoe. Michelle's post is right on according to my partner Betzi. Except that DWise1 has a good point too. :shock:
[quote="DWise1]Obviously, it's due to the high percentage of geeks (ie, engineer types) drawn to Lindy. Duct tape is the tool for choice for almost everything.
I hear sections cut from the old 8" floppy disks make great dance shoe soles. There's some special lubricant on them so that they can rotate in the envelope, that provides just the right stick/slip for dancing on the institutional tile floor of the lobby of your typical university computer science building (just kidding)
When I was getting started with WCS I sometimes practiced with my SO on the hard marble floor in the lobby of Sitterson Hall (CS building at UNC-CH). In regular dance shoes, though.
Marble is a suede-sole compatible surface, it's just that it's so dead you quickly go lame trying to dance on it...
Hey no, man! I think you've really got something there! I'll bet'cha that they hardly ever use their CP/M machines anymore. It'll be at least a week before they notice the diskettes are gone. Or in a pinch, we could probably cut two sections from two 5-1/4" floppies for each shoe. Problem is, they'd probably be missed a lot quicker. [grin ... but still ... ]
Even without jumping and aerials, women have told me that lindy hop is just plain difficult to do in any kind of heel. I can see what they mean. One of the adjustments I had to make when I took up lindy hop is that it always felt like I was flinging the follower around, but was usually told I wasn't using enough force. It would be hard to get flung around and still keep your balance in heels.
Masking tape often offers even less traction than duct tape, depending on the brand. It's good for when you were not expecting to dance and want to modify your sneakers. -FF
LOL! I resemble that!! :wink: :lol: Besides, it's mechanical engineers who do the duct tape thing. Right? :roll: :wink: :lol:
