Anyone not like platform/clear heels for yourself?
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I prefer heels. Always. I own 1 pair of flats other then my barn boots and one pair of tennis shoes and about 80 ish pairs of heels with over 3/4 of them being 4 inches or higher. I start my beginners barefoot and won't force them to wear heels but I personally love them.
senrysa ·
funn thing...after I shattered my hip I thought if I do get back on the pole I'll never be able to wear my heels again..it took months before I would put anything on but flats or bare feet plus I'm one of the unlucky ones whose plate and pins surgery made one leg a little shorter 🙁 so after many months we went out to dinner and I got dressed up...and thought I'm gonna try some heels...well I looked pretty funny with heels and a cane but lo and behold that night I realized with the heels on I could walk without the cane...how bizarre is that! I'm still a little scared of them because I worry I'll stumble and I am completely paranoid about falling 😲 I was however happy happy that my heels are not something I have to just look at because since I started poling I have sooooooooo many pairs... 😉 I haven't ried to pole in my heels again yet since I'm just now able to get back on it but I am hopeful.
bumping this thread up! Not only is it a great one, but I'm wanting to get either 7 or (gasp) 8" shoes (not really, but would love to try some!). I'm used to 6's...how big of a difference is it going from 6" to 7"? Do you have a size preference? (lol, this sounds so naughty)
My preference is ZERO inches!
I have mostly 6" but I like my 7" more
I honestly never was a show person. I wanted my own pair of heels just to practice in them for more of a workout since its way harder for me to dance in them on the pole. I LOVE LOVE LOVE dancing barefoot. I am a bellydancer lol. I just love it. But ive been wearing my heels more and more an now I just dont want to take them off lol. I love my heels bc they make me feel like a different person. ( I love feeling like a bellydancer as well when i pole dance) but i dont JUST feel like a bellydancer trying to pole dance in my heels like i do bare foot. When i wear them I feel Like i know what im doing lol. They have also made me have better pointed toes in my bellydance class i noticed. I heared heels are not good for your feet, which is fine, neither is the dancing i do on my feet lol. but when i take them off i feel like pointing my feet is on auto piolet and i dont have to think about it lol! I cant ex i just love it now. tho i still and always will love dancing bare foot as well. i have 6, 7 an 8 inches. the 6 are the easiest of chorse but the 7 i think it perfect for me bc its just enough height. I only love 8 inches if they are boots bc they give me more support around my ankle to walk in them) my 8 inch boots i fell i can run in them with the ankle suppose they give me. hmm now i have to learn how to dance in them in a graceful way lol.
sorry meant shoe person not show person *
LOL, I just noticed this thread title!! I was only looking at the posts that were pro-shoes. Oopsie!
in regards to heels.. i need heels to practice in .. i have yet to practice in heels becuz none of the one i own have ankle straps.. i would love to purchase some.. could u lovely ladies give me some of ur favorite places to purchase them ?
@lilmissRe amazon (lol) or bad kitty. i've got 3 pairs of pleaser boots and a bunch of Ellie platform stiletto-heeled shoes. love them all ;)
I would strongly suggest that if you do not know how the different brands fit to find some place local so you can try them on. I shop all over for my shoes always looking for sales. I have a friend who has an account with Pleaser and I can get her cost if there is a pair I cannot find. I have also gotten some steals on ebay. The last pair I bought at a local boutique and they were on clearance for $35. But then again, I am a bargain hunter.
Interesting that some people don't like dancing in shoes because it is not "who they are." That describes me to a T - I am a flip flop, sneakers, and Uggs kind of girl in my daily life. I do yoga in bare feet, I love walking around barefoot in the summertime, and I almost always train in bare feet for pole. I also love the look of a pointed toe. And yet... I adore my 7 inch Ellies. Putting them on is, for me, like a superhero putting on a mask. It lets me turn into that bombshell sexpot who I usually don't get to be in my daily life. At least for a song or two :)
good advice, chemgoddess1! i have a pair of heels that run narrow and it's kinda sketchy dancing in them so i just use them for floor work.
The day after Halloween is a great time to pick up pole shoes... a lot of the adult stores and temporary costume stores stock the most common Pleasers and Ellies around that time. You may also have luck immediately after Valentine's Day.
Some friends have also had good luck at Kohls. They sell inexpensive street shoes that are pretty good for pole dancing. http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1252723/candies-platform-high-heels-juniors.jsp http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1035228/elle-platform-high-heels-women.jsp http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1181591/lc-lauren-conrad-platform-sandals-women.jsp Just be careful about bringing street shoes to a studio, since they may scuff the floor.
I don't know if I recommend buying shoes that aren't meant for dancing. Friends of mine have done this and have had some difficulty. The soles aren't as grippy and they'd often slip and slide when bringing their feet down from a spin. The last thing you want is for your feet to slide out from under you. Adult stores that sell Pleasers and the like also sell replacement soles that can be stuck to the bottom of the shoe and help, but I don't know if it's worth it to do that on street shoes. I don't dance much in shoes due to my weak ankles. I have learned that it's important to pay attention to the heel to platform ratio. I have 6" heels with a 3/4" platform. The angle is quite steep and makes it hard for me (typically a non-heel wearer) to dance in them. On the other hand, you can get a 7" shoe with a 3" platform and they will be far more comfortable than my 6" shoe. I wish I had learned early on to pay attention not to the height of the heel but the heel-to-platform ratio. I'd also recommend trying them on in a store. I wear a half size up in Pleaser, but a different style of the same brand in the same size caused my toes to pop out the top of the sandal, which is quite dangerous. Even though I like those shoes, I can't wear them. Fit is important when changing between styles. Ankle straps are always a plus, but I've seen people who really like the mule style because of the greater coverage of the plastic on the top of the foot. They don't fall off because of the grippiness of the plastic and a sort of "suction" it creates on your foot. I have seen them fly off with some moves, but for most things, they stay on fine. I have also been told by my instructors to look at the actual heel shape. Flip the shoe upside down and look at the heel. Circular heels, like most stilletos, are harder to walk and dance in. Heels that are squared off, like an extended semi-circle, will give greater stability. If you dance at home and only have carpet, I don't necessarily recommend shoes for that. I have tried walking on the carpet in my home, which is typical off-white apartment carpet, and have actually fallen because the plushness of the carpet rolls the heel around. Some can handle it fine and some carpets are less plush than others, but I figure it's worth saying. I'm not an expert on shoes by any means. I only have the two pairs, one that I can't even wear. I guess I can say that I've had a lot of errors with my trial-and-error when it comes to shoes. For the most part, I'm a barefoot girl. That doesn't stop me from oogling over heels though. Best of luck on the heel search for those who are looking!
Veena ·
If I wear heels I like to wear ballroom heels or "stripper" heels. I love the ballroom because they allow you to point the foot and still give a nice line to the legs. They are great for song that would look odd with a stripper heel. I love to wear my stripper heels because they are so so so FUN! I love how they look, I love the colors you can get and all how sexy they make us look and feel. Even your "average" heel these days are looking like "stripper" heels! Even if exotic dancers never wore those heels, I'd still want to wear them. lol All heels made for dancing will challenge you to work on your balance and body awareness, so I think it's a great thing. 😉
Before pole I pretty much never wore heels. The first heels I ever bought were the ones I wore to prom and within 10 minutes of being inside I whipped those puppies off lol. I can barely walk in heels to this day. BUT, I've always had this fascination with high heels. I think a lot of girls do. They can't really explain it, but its there. I like the option of wearing them for pole. But by no means do I feel forced to wear them. I only practice in them once on my practice days because I get far more done without them on. Oh, use to HATE clear heels, something about them just seemed...I don't know skanky? But then, I found tutorials to make clear heels all fancy. So my opinions changed :)
I actually put myself through school as a professional dancer, and so I originally learned how to dance in "Stripper Heels" on stage, in front of a crowd. I never went with too big a platform, an inch or two tops, since I always worried I would fall off them and hurt myself or others... but as a lot of people have pointed out, nowadays many street heels are indistinguishable from stripper heels. I was told by many of the old school girls at my club that the reason stripper heels were so popular was because the materials they're made of are particuarly good at aiding in sticking to the pole. I had problems with the stripper heels giving me blisters, even after wearing them for extended periods of time, so after a while, I just gradually started dancing in regular street heels and personally, thought they worked better since the material can form to your foot, whereas the lucite is pretty much fixed. I stopped getting blisters after that. If it helps, I find that Steve Madden shoes are very well constructed, they last forever and i have never felt unsafe on them.
I am cheap cheap cheap when it comes to shoes (like, Payless and Walmart cheap - DSW is a splurge!) so on the rare occasion that I'm looking for platforms, I go for the clearance racks at normal department stores. I got some Steve Maddens for $30 at Burlington Coat Factory in 2011, and then last December scored some sparkly silver sandal-style heels from a no-name brand ("Diva"?) for $7 at Shoe Carnival. $7! They did scuff up the floor in my pole room (scuffs come off, right?) the last time I wore them, so I probably won't be bringing them to a studio. They slide pretty easily across the floor which I actually don't mind after so long of dancing on carpet and not being able to slide at all. Just have to be careful how I land. And the material on the insole gets slick when my feet sweat. So they do have some drawbacks. But I think if you want heels for *decoration* mostly, that you wear every once in a while, not every single time, then street shoes from the clearance racks can totally work. Just like with running shoes - sure, you can spend $100+ on performance running trainers with all the bells and whistles, and you should probably make that investment if you're running a lot or for long distances. But if you're just a casual, occasional jogger, you can get away with something much less robust.
@ For floor scuffs, like the kind tennis shoes can leave, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (or a generic equivilant) should take them right off. I also wear heels *everywhere* not just dancing in them, but I'm lucky enough that I live where there's a Nordstrom Rack in addition to a bunch of awesome consignment shops that always have higher end shoes for super cheap, so I never spend more than $25/35 on fancy shoes. And if I find a pair I love, it's usually cheaper to get the soles and/or the heel taps replaced then to buy a new pair. My cobler charges $10 a pair to replace them ($10 for new soles/ $10 for new heel taps, which works out to $20 for a pair). I've had one pair of shoes since 2005, I bought them on sale, with the original tags (priced at $120) still on them, for $15 and I've had to replace the heel taps twice, maybe 3 times, so all in all $35-45 for 8 years of wear = Worth every penny. But I might just be city-spoiled.
I like flat shoes I can't wear high heel shoes it very painful for me and I've so much difficult to walk with heels.............
Polebull ·
I'm a diva for high heels. With that said, when I started pole dancing I immediately went for the 7 inch heels! I just love them; they make me feel sooo sexy! I practice my tricks barefoot then break out the big heels once I've mastered them.
grayeyes ·
Great thread. When I started pole I was into it strictly from an acrobatic aspect and I actually thought heels looked weird on pole dancers. To me it seemed like most of the routine was in the air so why would the dancer wear shoes? In my mind it was almost seemed like a trapeze artist wearing shoes. Then I bought Veena's lessons and went through some of the beginning lessons like sexy walks and how to do a sexy squat. I put on some of my dress heels and was like, hey, wait a minute, that looks pretty sexy. I bought some clear plastic Pleasers on Amazon for $35 and I am 100% hooked on them. If you had told me a month ago I would be addicted to these silly shoes I would not have believed you. Now that's one of the best parts of poling. I practice with and without them but mostly with. I'm like a little girl with her mom's heels on--love them. I would wear them to McDonald's with shorts if I didn't think I would get propositioned for being a working girl. Interestingly, I have only once seen anyone wear heels in my studio--not sure why. As others have said, I find the heels empowering. I feel like the sexiest woman alive in those heels.
Interesting thread... personally don't ever wear heels and never would. I also don't like watching vids of girls poling in heels. I think it's because I have Brittle Bones Disease and although I know they'll be totally fine and they're used to it, Im always watching thinking 'Oh nooooo! You're going to snap your ankle!!' :)
