|
Shoes, Glorious Shoes!
If you know anything about Mel C at all (the salsa chick, not the pop star!), then you will know that I am a complete shoe fanatic. I am currently the proud owner of 21 pairs, from a selection of dance shoe companies, and am always ‘broody’ for more!
I have my favourites, I have the comfy ones, the ones that have crippled me and the ones I have yet to try. I enjoy the excitement I feel when I spot a pair of shoes for the first time and the conversations that you can have with complete strangers about shoe heights, sizes, and the best way to break them in!
So, I have decided to put my passion for shoes to good use (gents, all of the dance shoe companies listed in the review provide mens dance shoes!), and have provided a guide for you, to help you make that right purchase, or three in my case!
Budget
 Collective UK
Price: £30 www.collectiveuk.com
My dance company, Carpe Diem Dance Company, are sponsored by Collective UK. The new kids on the block, out of my list, Collective are driven to provide dance shoes that are comfortable and reasonably priced.
These are probably the most comfortable dance shoes out there (I’m not biased, honest!), they ‘re the only dance shoes that I can put on, dance in straight away, and not worry about my feet being crippled at the end of the night!
 Rotate
Price: £35 www.rotateuk.com
Available from the Salsa Central Shop
Rotate Shoes are very reasonably priced and come in a large selection of styles and colours! They have been around for a couple of years and are midlands based.
I have about four pairs of Rotate and was fortunate enough to have input on the design of one of them, pair, not one shoe that is!
Mid Range
 Gianna
£47.50 upwards www.giannauk.com
Although I don’t have a pair of Gianna dance shoes yet (Suzanne, Jose, I hope you are reading this!) I have seen the range and they have some really nice looking shoes.
They’re not too expensive and they are also one of the only dance shoe companies in the UK that sell dance boots.
Supadance
£58.72 upwards www.supadance.com 
Again, I don’t have a pair of Supadance but I know that these guys have been around the longest out of all of the companies I am reviewing.
Gorgeous dance shoes, showcased on shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Strictly Dance Fever, Supadance are the dance shoes of the Supa Stars (did you see what I did there)!
Splurge!
Bespoke
Price: £67 upwards www.bespoke-dance-shoes.co.uk 
Bespoke have been around for a few years and is run by Nigel and Tracy from the midlands.
They have introduced the new ‘Bespoke Couture’ range, which is priced at: £78.50. This range can be individually sized (length &/ or width) to fit ‘each’ foot. With each range, the shoe components & colour are selected by the client.
These are the shoes that got me back into wearing dance shoes after three years of wearing Jazz shoes!
 Oobashoo
£65 upwards www.oobashoo.com
These are the crème de la crème of salsa shoes in my opinion! Oobashoo’s are my treat, my reward for being good (I’m on a diet so chocolate ain’t happening at the moment!), pure indulgence!
These shoes are designed by dancers, for dancers and they are gorgeous! They have recently sourced in an external brand with some serious funky looking shoes in the range (some mightily high ones too!), they also sell dance boots.
Oobashoos take some time to break in, but in fashion, there are certain things that women will put themselves through for fabulous looking shoes (no pain, no gain ladies!) But once they are broken in, they are really comfortable.
I have 9 pairs of Oobashoos, and there are still a few more that I want to get my hands on (sorry Steve)!
I hope you found this guide useful, ladies, keep buying those shoes, men, don't moan (you just don't understand, ok?) and dance shoe companies, if you would like your shoes to be reviewed by moi, i'm a size 6 or 6.5 and you can get in touch via the site ;-)
Happy Shopping!
Mel C (self confessed shoe addict!)
|
