[Tango-L] high heels

[Deby Novitz]

With all due respect Natalia, you have shoes to sell which is a 
completely different outlook than advice from someone who dances and 
teaches.  I have sat in several shoe stores where the owners/clerks urge 
women to go for the higher heel.  Why?  Because they want the woman to 
buy shoes.  I have sat in shoe stores where the clerks who do not dance 
and know nothing about dancing are dispensing advice on shoes.  (Oh you 
look so sexy...Oh those look so wonderful...)

Once a clerk showed me a pair of shoes with that crappy plastic stiletto 
heel.  I told her I did not want that heel, that I wanted a traditional 
heel.  (Still slim but not plastic and attached through the sole) She 
began to "sell" me on the idea of that shoe.  Telling me that once I 
danced in it, it would be OK.  I told her it would not be OK and when I 
explained why it would not be OK, I got back information that was 100% 
incorrect.  Here was a shoe salesperson who DOES NOT dance telling me 
how I could be dancing in these shoes.  She had no idea if I danced well 
or knew what I was talking about.  Her whole conversation was delivered 
very smoothly and in a manner that was very convincing but was pure 
garbage.  I am sure (had I not been me)I would have bought those too 
high of crappy heeled shoes because this tango shoe store salesperson 
was so sure they were a good thing for me.  I would look so beautiful, 
so elegant....

Women who are afraid to buy shoes that are too high usually have 
reason.  Yes, they may look sexy when you stand in front of a mirror.  A 
woman dancing with her butt sticking out, her arm draped around the man 
holding on for dear life as he pushes her around the dance floor 
(because she is so heavy hanging on him) does not look sexy.  She looks 
stupid.

If you cannot take confident strides walking normally in a pair of 
heels, then they are TOO DAMN HIGH.  Do yourself and your partners a 
favor and buy shoes that fit you and are easy for you to walk in.  You 
might find you are dancing more and complaining less about your feet.