Ok so you want a good pair of taps for the irrepressible hoofer that you are. There are 3 main tap stockists in London – all conveniently located within walking distance to each other in Covent Garden.
BEFORE YOU BUY:
**Always, always always put them on and tap around in them. Don’t feel shy. Jump up and down and give them a workout. All the stores below have a dedicated floor space to try out dance shoes and you need to make sure, above all else, that they are COMFORTABLE.
**Don’t feel pressured into buying just because you tried on every shoe in the shop. Some brands will fit your foot better than others and any decent salesperson knows and shouldn’t get huffy with you (if they do, kick them).
**Make sure that your feet don’t slip out at the heel when you try them on. The best way to test is to start with your foot flat on the floor and then lift your heel as high as you can keeping your toes on the ground. The shoe should grip onto your foot still and not slide off at the heel. If it does, it means that the cut is too low around the ankle.
SANSHA
http://london.eurostore.sansha.com/
This is the brand I prefer just as it has a better fit for my foot (I have no ties with Sansha so this is completely independent opinion). They are also very reasonably priced at around £40. And you can get them in different colours which is awesome.
BLOCH
http://www.blochworld.com/bloch-retail-locator/concept-stores
Another good solid brand. Jason Samuels Smith has designed a tap shoe for Bloch which retails at around £90 and is supder duper comfortable and supple but you can also get a decent pair of Bloch brand shoes for half that price.
CAPEZIO
http://www.capeziodanceeu.com/en/london
Capezio are the makers of the K360s which are the Porsches of the tap shoe world. They are cool, they are sexy, they are bloody expensive. But again, they do stock other less expensive shoes and are a very good brand.
Of course you can always search on ebay or amazon but keep in mind that it is better to get one of the brands listed above than a generic, thin-soled shoe as the generic ones are usually synthetic soles instead of leather and will fall apart much quicker than the brands above.
The average life of a tap shoe, if you are a tap student doing weekly lessons, is about 4-5 years and even then you may not need to replace them. As a performer, I go through shoes every 1-2 years and I treat them rough. So they’re hardy little packages.
Happy shopping!
