Buying ballet shoes for your children can often feel overwhelming, when you have such a large variety to choose from.

Each ballet school might have a particular colour or material they require your child to wear, so before you start shoe shopping, it is important that you ask the teacher – after all, they may be able to provide you with some advice!

Soft ballet shoes

Soft ballet shoes are the go-to ballet shoes for dancers of all abilities. As your child progresses, they will eventually move up to pointe shoes, however this completely depends on the type of dance!

Dancing Daisy has designed a range of soft ballet shoes, all perfect for both beginners and advanced dancers. Their soft, lightweight ballet shoes are designed for comfort and durability and made from either leather, canvas or satin material. Soft ballet shoes have an elasticated drawstring at the top of the shoe, with pre-sewn elastic.

With a choice of colours and styles for the thin and flexible shoes, including their suede soles, your next step is to find the perfect fit!

What is the perfect fit?

Wearing the wrong type and size ballet shoe can make dancing uncomfortable and difficult. Parents are often tempted to buy a size bigger for their child to ‘grow into’, which can ultimately lead to injury, due to the shoes being too big or too loose. It is likely that you will need to buy new ballet shoes for your child every 6 to 12 weeks, and a proper fit will ensure confidence, comfort and good performance!

Ballet shoe sizing can differ from brand to brand, so always check the sizing information provided by each supplier. It’s unlikely that your child will wear the same size ballet shoes as they do school shoes, so take your time with this.

How to accurately measure your child’s feet

Most online retailers will list the foot measurements alongside the standard UK foot sizes, so it will be easy for you to find the sizing information. Read over this to ensure you get a good fit the first time round, and you won’t have to keep exchanging them until you get it right!

The easiest and most accurate way to measure your child’s feet is to simply draw round the foot on a piece of paper then measure a straight line, from the tip of the longest toe to the back of the heel in centimetres.

Materials

Leather: Leather ballet shoes are popular with dance schools and teachers because they are soft and supple, yet hardwearing, and mould themselves to the foot after a few wears, providing extra comfort.

Canvas: Canvas ballet shoes have a great durability and are a great material to perfectly execute turns and spins.

Satin: Satin ballet shoes look beautiful and give the foot a truly beautiful line. However, they are best used for special occasions, like performances or auditions as they aren’t very hardwearing.

Colour: The colour of ballet shoe that you need to buy depends on your dance teacher’s preference. Normally, pink is the chosen colour for girls, and boys wear either white or black shoes.

Soles

You will also have to choose between a full sole and a split sole when buying ballet shoes, however most beginners wear a full sole.
However, a split sole may be the preference of more advanced ballet dancers as it allows for a better point of the toe.

Elastics

Ballet shoe elastics are hugely important to the wearer as they help hold the shoe in place, preventing any disturbance or discomfort during dancing.

You can buy shoes with or without the elastic sewn in, however the pre-sewn elastic option may need some adjustments to suit the wearer’s foot, but it is a popular choice for parents as it makes the job much easier.

Also, at the top of every soft ballet shoe, you should find an elasticated drawstring for added comfort for the wearer. This can be adjusted by either being pulled tighter or loosened to ensure a good fit.

Pointe shoes

Pointe shoes are specifically for advanced dancers and should only ever be worn under the supervision of a trained dance teacher.

Pointe shoes need to be fitted to your exact size otherwise you could risk permanent injury. For your shoes to be correctly fitted, you will require a pointe shoe fitting service with a specially trained advisor, so we recommend you not buying them online. It is for this reason that Dancing Daisy does not supply them.

For more information, visit www.dancing-daisy.co.uk