Toe Socks Pastorelli

What are half-shoes used for?

Some styles such as lyrical and contemporary are often performed barefoot.  However, some moves, like turns are hard to perform without a ballet or jazz shoe. The foot, especially, when sweaty, sticks to the floor making it hard to perform the required step and can also put undue pressure on the knee.  Therefore, dancers use foot thongs and half shoes! They are especially popular amongst rhythmic gymnast.

Half shoes, lyrical shoes – these come from the world of rhythmic gymnastics. They are like half a ballet shoe with elastic replacing the back half of the shoe. Half shoes usually have two pieces of elastic band that help to hold the shoe in place during training. You can wear the elastic however you feel the most comfortable, but we recommend placing one elastic over the foot and the other behind the heel. The elastics can be also both placed behind the heel.

Half-shoes are made out of different materials such as leather, suede and canvas. Half shoes that are made out of canvas are also known as a half socks, as the material resembles a sock and it only covers half of the foot. Each dancer has their own preference for half shoes: some prefer leather and some canvas. A professional gymnast has a pair of each in the training bag as each training may require a different type of half shoe. We’d recommend choosing a shoe that fits the training and is comfortable to wear and move in.