Irish Dance Shoes

Irish dancers wear two different types of shoes:  Soft shoes and hard shoes.  We in Rochester are fortunate to have a world class shoe vendor right here in town.  Rutherford Products is located in Hilton (392-7707) and offers a wide variety of styles and sizes for you to try on in their showroom.  Our recommendations for various shoes can be found below.   Please note the following:

*There will likely be several pairs of used shoes available for sale during the first few weeks of class; you may want to wait and see if a used pair in your size is available before investing in a new pair.

*All students will need a pair of soft shoes, and most will need a pair of hard shoes.  The exception is the Children's Level I class which uses tap shoes instead of hard shoes.  

Soft Shoes:  Girls and women wear lace-up slippers (also called "ghillies" or "reel pumps") for the more graceful, balletic soft shoe style.  There are many different brands of soft shoes.  Rince Na Saor recommends a soft shoe with a leather sole such as the Rutherford Products Ghille.  Leather-soled soft shoes provide the best combination of support, traction, durability, and affordability.  Soft shoes with fuzzy black soles are slipperier, do not provide the same level of support, and wear out more quickly.

Boys and men wear a black, lace-up jazz shoe.  These are available from Rutherford Products and area dancewear stores such as Dancewear Express and Baily Slipper Shop.  See an example here.

Hard Shoes:  Shoes with fiberglass tips and heels are worn for the percussive, rhythmic hard shoe style.  Men and women wear the same type of shoes.  Rince Na Saor recommends a hard shoe with a firm leather sole such as the Rutherford Products Inishfree Jig Shoe.  Hard shoes with black soles do not offer the same level of support, durability, and affordability.  

Skid Pads:  Skid pads are handy little pieces of rubber applied to the soles of hard shoes to make them less slippery.  Hard shoes don't come with skid pads, so they need to be applied by a shoe shop such as Harrison Brothers Shoe Repair in Greece Ridge Mall.  Any shoe repair shop should be able to apply skid pads; just make sure you explain that you want skid pads for dance shoes.  (Harrison Brothers is familiar with hard shoes, but other shops might not be.)  Skid pads are highly recommended for better traction and should cost around $10. 

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