Shoes for the Pole Dancing
Manolo says, here for the pleasure of your readings is the most recent column of the Manolo.
Dear Manolo,
I am taking a pole dancing class this fall and I need a pair of sexy but not slutty dance shoes. Mind you, I am a housewife, not a stripper.
Jennifer
At the first, the Manolo he imagined the traditional mary-janes to be worn with the flouncy skirt and the crown of the May flowers. But then someone explained to the Manolo that the sort of the pole dancing intended did not involve the long colorful ribbons.
After taking the moment to recover, the Manolo reconsidered and thought of the Lucia from the Freed of London.
It has the practical-for-the-dancing cuban heel, the t-strap to secure it to the high-kicking feets, and the modest toe-cleavage to entice the red-blooded man. Best of the all, it is the sort of the tasteful golden shoe that could be worn by both the Sally Rand, the famous queen of the burlesque, and the Ginger Rogers. It is indeed sexy, but not in the least slutty.
The Jennifer! She must not watch anymore the Housewives of Desperation!
Indeed, it is a glamorous shoe without going overboard. It also has a suede sole–you need a smooth sole for doing turns while dancing, just as you need a strap (or laces) for a shoe to fit snugly and stay on your feet. The heel looks a little lower than 2″–most women I know don’t like to dance in very high heels. It even has a bit of padding.
However, it does not come in a wide width. The dancers with the wide feets who are more of the mary-jane and flouncy skirt type might want to check out Trotters Jamie. It’s not glamorous, it doesn’t look super-fantastic, but a good dance partner looks in your eyes, not your feet. It has rave reviews from dancers on the Zappos site. I think I will get a pair to get me through all-day dance classes, and staying out way too late on work nights.
These are both prettier and more comfortable-looking than the regulation hard shoes for Irish step dancing:
http://irishshoes.safeshopper.com/1/357.htm?403
Those are fiberglass blocks under the toes, combining the sound of taps and the support for (brief and optional) toe stands of pointe shoes.
“It’s not glamorous, it doesn’t look super-fantastic, but a good dance partner looks in your eyes, not your feet.”
But in this case the partner is a pole and being a stripper is all about glamor. And pasties. And hand sanitizer.
Perhaps I should have stated more clearly that I was speaking of shoes for social dancing.
For pole dancing, the standard stripper shoes (ie lucite 6-inchers), while extremely slutty, do serve a functional purpose. One can use the space between the heel and the platform sole to help grip the pole and perform stunts so as not to tire out your leg and arm muscles. Or so it was claimed by a friend of mine.
All this talk of the pole dancing has the Raoul thinking he must go on a field trip. So that he can pay attention to the shoes being worn of course. The Raoul is not unfamiliar with the establishments of the dancing on the pole, but honestly he has never paid any attention to the shoes required. The Cranky Biscuit speaks of using the shoes to aid the dancing … humm. This I must see.
Whoa…did someone seriously work Irish step dancing into this conversation? Yes? Then I think we’ve found the Daily Non Sequitur winner. There is nothing germane about Irish step dancing in this discussion, other than the fact that we’re dealing with two forms of movement that appropriately take air quotes around the ‘dancing’ part of their title. I can only wonder how often the poster drops this in face-to-face conversation, but I can guarantee it’s 100 percent more than is necessary or interesting.
For Christ’s sweet sake.
Is it really high enough?
She should be asking her teacher what to wear; dance shoes are about function before form, and pole dancing is both physically demanding and not without danger. I’m a little puzzled as to why anyone would want a non-slutty pole-dancing shoe, but perhaps this lady is driven by a desire to master the less slutty acrobatic tricks. In this case, safety should be her primary concern. If the six-inch Lucite platform is the standard, there may well be a practical reason.
The Zarba wonders how Jennifer works that into casual conversation?
“Sorry Jimmy is late for Cub Scouts. I was late leaving my pole-dancing class and….”
Sir, as opposed to (it seems) everyone else, I have to agree 100% with your recommendation. Not only are those shoes more practical for pole dancing than the slides with the lucite platforms and 8-inch heels…they’d also look damn good for those occasions where Jennifer would dance close to her partner as they look into each other’s eyes.
While the Manolo has the lovely taste in the shoes, and these are quite pretty, they shoes are too low for the pole-dancing (speaking as one who used to strip). For pole-dancing, you will want shoes with at least a 4 or 5″ heel, probably with a 1 or 2″ platform. The higher heel will help you shift your center of gravity towards your hips, which is a major component of graceful stripper-dancing. The platform will make them more comfortable — you can get by with a slightly lower heel — and will make your legs look longer. They don’t have to be Lucite (ugh) but should fit pretty snugly so you don’t slide around inside them. Boots have more stability than sandals, and thicker heels are much more stable than spikes. (My favorite pole-dancing shoe was a pair of beautiful funky leather platform boots, 1/2 size too small, that a friend bought in Italy and sold to me.)
Have fun!!
I know I did, but now that I am six months pregnant, I’m in the market for shoes that look nice but don’t make my feet and back hurt.
The Norma also does not understand the desire for the demure pole-dancing shoes. She would think that if sluttiness were something one wished to avoid, then pole-dancing itself would be _interdit_. It is seldom, she imagines, that customers of the clubs where the pole-dancing is enjoyed say to themselves, “My opinion of this lady before me is informed by her footwear, rather than by her undulating pelvis.”
The Norma herself finds a certain amount of sluttiness to be salutory, especially since one woman’s sluttiness is another’s fun night out. Of course, one wishes to preserve one’s dignity always, but within those boundaries much delightful misbehavior is both possible and to be encouraged. Why should the mens have all the freedom to be slutty, and the womens none at all, she thinks.
Yowza. Truly the Manolo has opened the Martha’s mind in yet another way.