And she said honey take me dancing But they ended up by sleeping On a couch In the studio with the lights on Bit west of Broadway Wearing duct tape on the soles of their shoes And I could say Oo oo oo And everybody here would know What I was talking about I mean everybody here would know exactly What I was talking about Talking about duct tape People say I’m crazy I got duct tape on the soles of my shoes Well that’s one way to lose These dancing blues Duct tape on the soles of your shoes (With appologies to Paul Simon and the original poster for the fact that I just can't read the thread title without thinking of this)
I have a pair with the raw leather soles. They're very slick and the hard soles are supposed to be even slicker. They're tough with slick floors and/or if you don't have great balance. Of dances I've tried so far, lindy hop challenges my balance the most. I find them great for balboa, but I'm kind of a spaz doing lindy hop in them.
I think I can relate most to needing to alter sneakers for an unexpected dance... Good posts here. But I'm going to stick with my Stacy Adams b&w patent wingtips with leather sole... They're comfortable, have a good slick/grip ratio, and look best with my wardrobe. --Diavo
It's also worthy of note that it has been said if the skin to the tape wears through (which can happen if one is not careful or does not re-tape often) and the adhesive gets of the floor making the floor less desirable for everyone... something that everyone who tapes should be aware of. that said... I'm fond of my hard leather soles -- I can spin on carpet! which is really nice Woo Hoo!
I used to tape my sneakers with lint tape (the stuff that comes on the lint rollers). It worked pretty well, but it needed to be re-taped pretty often. Then I went to suede, which I liked, but the suede would eventually wear down or start to come undone around the edges. Now I have hard leather soles on all my dance shoes, and I like that the best.
Just beware of duct tape residue sticking to nice wood floors. This once happened to the floor at the former studio where I worked. One of this year's DLX' venues was canceled the next day due to what dancers did to it the previous night. I don't know if it was duct tape or not. However, us dancers need to be considerate to the floors we dance on.
Powder my toes... (split this if you want) Wow... obviously it's not good to have the adhesive residue on your floor. That being said, I also see a lot of people who bring talcum powder to dances. Admittedly nowadays a lot of "floor managers" really are telling people not to powder their shoes prior to dancing. Obviously powdering one's shoes makes it a bit easier to slide in, but I guess it's not good for the floor?
One of our Lindy venues has a dance floor that is rather beat-up, so I'm not worried about wearing my regular walking sneakers on it. I noticed a couple of these lines of white powder one on edge, but it took me a month before it hit me what that stuff was. One night, one of the long-time local teachers was doing this really great all-out shadow Charleston when her foot hit a powdery spot (not the line itself, fortunately) and she very nearly fell flat on her face. Instead, even though her foot did a nasty slip, she caught herself with the other foot and recovered without missing a beat. If it had been a person of lesser skill and experience (ie, the vast majority of us there), then that would have been a rather nasty injury accident. I have a definite opinion about powdering the dance floor. From the rec.arts.dance "Lead and Follow" FAQ, "9.2 On What To Carry With You To A Dance" page at http://www.eijkhout.net/lead_follow/moving_van.html (which is where I finally learned what that powder was):
Industrial strength duct tape (http://www.survival-gear.com/duct-tape.htm) - the ultimate improvisational tool. It's said that if you can't fix it with duct tape, then it can't be fixed. 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
Well, if we're going to raise this one for the dead, the correct tape to use is gaffer's tape. It looks like duct tape, but with one very important difference: gaffer's tape is fabric tape, make with cotton cloth and duct tape is reinforced vinyl tape. Gaffer's will slide, duct tape, not so good. I know this because I first started group lessons using a pair of sneakers with the rubber sole covered with wide gaffer's tape to "convert" it to something like suede soles. It actually works, but it won't last as well as regular dance shoes. I'm using Aris Allen's men shoes in EEE now.
This is my solution to price. . . and duct tape. Not the best arch support, but I love them. Mine are just grey and maroon, but you get the idea.
What's wrong with cutting up an old suede coat and gluing it to Skateboard shoes - that's what I do. And I use Skateboard shoes because the cushioning really helps in Lindy. I use the same shoes for AT and they work much better than anything else I've tried. As for powdering floors - its dangerous, mostly because it makes the speed of the floor uneven.
I'm a fan of the duct tape "sole-lution," but I usually have to replace the tape every couple of dance sessions.
Like mentioned before, duct tape is easy fix for shoes. However, I personally found it doesn't work very well for me. However, if you go into one of the smaller shoe/cobbler shops, I've found they'll put suede/leather on any pair of shoes you bring for a reasonable price. Last time I did it though was in 2002, and was around $25. Might be a bit more, but still less expensive then "official" store bought swing shoes or vintage.
