At Midsummer Night Swing, Shoes Speak VolumesFor two weeks each summer, Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing draws thousands of dancers to its outdoor dance floor at Damrosch Park.
Now in its 26th season, the series attracts dancers of all stripes: young, old, amateur, professional. They tend to have one thing in common: a fussiness, or a passion, when it comes to shoes. Sometimes footwear choice is a matter of tradition. (Think of cowboy boots for Cajun or lightweight sneakers for acrobatic swing dancing.) In many cases, it’s a matter of comfort, personal style or the material of the dance floor.
Bill Bragin, director of public programming at Lincoln Center, had a variety of dancers test different types of shoes on different materials when Damrosch Park got a floor upgrade three years ago. Female tango dancers in stiletto pumps are “much more aware of whether there’s a seam between the tiles,” Mr. Bragin said. “What’s that experience like? You want to maintain that sexy grace.”
Mr. Bragin has been struck by the variety of shoes displayed on the dance floor. “Some people dress to impress,” he said. “Some people choose shoes that are going to be comfortable and perform well. The people who do it best are those who are able to do both at the same time.”
Here are the stories of five regulars at Midsummer Night Swing, which runs through Saturday, and the shoes that they wear.
Celia Gianfrancesco and Jerry Feldman
Celia Gianfrancesco, 67, and her husband, Jerry Feldman, 71, retirees who live in Murray Hill, have been partners for nearly 15 years, dancing swing, disco, salsa and tango. (He said he had to take lessons when they started, because she danced all the dances.) A versatile dance arsenal requires a versatile shoe collection, and Mr. Feldman rotates between a traditional men’s shoe from Aris Allen, sneakers for dancing outdoors, and fancier two-toned men’s shoes for indoor tango.
His favorite is a comfortable pair of Aris Allens with a smooth leather sole, “which is good for turning on the dance floor.” He also likes the distinctive white leather. “If I wear that, people know I’m a dancer,” he said.
Ms. Gianfrancesco wears low heels almost exclusively, even on a swing-dance floor where many other dancers are found wearing sneakers. “I don’t wear them quite as high, because I always feel like I’m going to go over,” she said. “But I like a heel. I think it makes you dance better. I got so used to wearing heels that I’m very comfortable in them. Plus I’m petite, so it gives me a little height.”
She has about 20 pairs of dancing shoes, some of which she buys from Aerosoles, which she says are especially comfortable. From there, she’ll often take a pair to the cobbler and have standard rubber soles replaced with leather, which makes for easier sliding and gliding on the dance floor. Then she often adds a personal touch: “I have lots of silk flowers, pins or clips,” she said. “I manage to put them on my shoes to match the outfit that I’m wearing.”
Victoria Winter
Victoria Winter, 63, from Tuckahoe, N. Y., has been dancing Zydeco, the Louisiana-originated dance based on quick, precisely mirrored shuffles rather than wild hops or spins, for about a decade. In keeping with tradition, she wears cowboy boots. “Men and ladies wear jeans and boots, and you just get that feel of Southwestern Louisiana, and it’s just magical,” she said.
The boots are also a matter of safety. “It’s protective of your feet,” she said. “You can get hurt, obviously, with that kind of dancing, on a very crowded dance floor.”
“As long as they fit right,” she added, “it’s not painful.” Ms. Winter has accumulated a collection of a half-dozen pairs, some of which she bought directly from stores in Louisiana. When she shops for boots, she hunts for distinctive ones. “They have to be kind of eye catching,” she said. “I have black, brown, red. It depends on the mood.”
Just don’t ask her to put on a pair of heels. “Absolutely not,” she said. “I love my boots, and that’s it.”
Voon Chew
Voon Chew, 30, a legal assistant who lives in Manhattan, specializes in the Lindy hop, an acrobatic form of swing dance with roots in the Depression-era ballrooms and clubs in Harlem.
Because the Lindy hop often involves gravity-defying moves, he said, he looks for shoes that lessen the impact on the feet and knees. He likes Aris Allen’s reproductions of classic saddle shoes, which are constructed from fake leather and require less of a breaking-in period for dancers than real leather, and have a cushiony foot bed. He often chooses suede soles, which he said help him “spin, slide and swivel.” He also scours eBay and thrift stores for a good vintage shoe, like his two-tone Florsheims from the 1940s, which have mesh ventilation. His taste in shoes matches his penchant for wearing throwback touches like flower pins in his lapels and more contemporary short pants.
Voon Chew’s shoes. Credit Jacob Blickenstaff for The New York Times
Mr. Chew considers himself a scrupulous dresser but doesn’t feel the need to adhere strictly to styles of the dance’s heyday. “Some people don’t mind looking like they’re time traveling, but I prefer to embrace the old and the new,” said Mr. Chew, who helped organize a fashion show for the Lindy hop pioneer Frankie Manning’s 100th birthday celebration this year. “It doesn’t have to look nerdy or dated,” he said. “It just has to look timeless. It’s a tricky balance.”
Almyra Ayos
Almyra Ayos, a 44-year-old dance teacher and choreographer from Harlem, could write a coming-of-age novel using the height of her dancing heels as chapter markers. When she began dancing salsa 18 years ago, she played it safe, opting for a one-inch heel out of fear of toppling over. Gradually, as she became a more skilled dancer, she raised the height to three, even four inches.
The heel, she said, helps a salsa dancer shift weight to the front of the foot for spins. “And you need good construction of the shoe,” she said. “Women always complain. If they get a bad pair of shoes, they don’t feel secure.” She buys many of her shoes from online specialty stores like Burju Shoes, Exotic Salsa Shoes and Light in the Box.
Today, she settles for a happy medium, dancing on two- or three-inch heels. “I’m trying to be more conservative,” she said. “The most dancing I do is social, which is anywhere from two to four hours at a stretch. If I were to do that in four inch heels, I might really feel it in my legs.”
Ms. Ayos marvels at the footwear tendencies of younger salsa dancers. “They’ll just wear their street shoes,” she said. “I’ve seen them spinning and doing all these amazing things wearing wedge sneakers.” When it comes to shoes, she added, “the longer you dance, the more picky you are.”
nytimes.com
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