My shoes need to retire!

Nederlandse versie

Flamenco shoes are very personal. Its a very intimate relationship that flamenco dancers have with their flamenco shoes. Everywhere I go I bring my flamenco shoes, and if I travel far for example by plain I put them in my hand luggage… what if they would get lost! Imagine that there are days that I spend more time wearing my flamenco dance shoes then normal shoes. They have become a part of me.

The process of finding the right flamenco shoes is a difficult one. First of all there is are a lot of different flamenco shoe brands. Every brand hand-makes there shoes differently. Luckily because every dancer has different feet and posture and taste. So after some time of searching and trying out shoes there is always a right shoe for everyone. Once you have found the brand you like you have to choose a model, a color, the hight of the heel, the shape of the heel an try if they sound good.. It’s always a search to find that right shoe that has the right sound, that fits your feet, that looks good.

In the beginning I made the mistake once to buy flamenco shoes after a day of dancing. I didn’t realize that after a day of dancing I arrived in the store with inflated feet. The next day I was drowning in my shoes. And up until today those shoes are in my closet unused. An expensive mistake. because good professional flamenco shoes will cost you around 150 euro.

The longer you have your shoes, the more comfortable they get and the better they start sounding. I am still wearing my first professional flamenco shoes daily. They fit my feet like a glove and are almost as comfortable as the slippers I wear inside my house. But unfortunately after 4 years of daily dancing with those shoes they are ready to retire. The color is fading, the inside is falling apart, the sides are ripping open, the sole is getting loose and there is a crack in the heel.. It makes me melancholic. With those shoes I started my flamenco adventure. They accompanied me during all my challenges. My first performances, my first rehearsals, all my clases, my mistakes, my victories.. They came to spain with me and were always there, sometimes I wanted to take them off and throw them across the room because things didn’t go the way I wanted, And sometimes I wanted to keep them on my feet after a rehearsal because I was so inspired that I didn’t want to stop. They have been through it all with me. But now its time to let them go and find myself some new best-friend flamenco shoes to get ready for some new flamenco experiences and adventures.