Everything You Need To Know About Pole Dancing Shoes

Whether you’re a professional exotic dancer or have taken up the pole for fitness and fun, it’s important to have the right outfit for your workout, and that includes your footwear! Platform heels are the traditional pole dancing shoes and come in a never-ending array of styles and designs to help you express yourself and enhance your performance. Strap yourself in as the Sexyland Fun Specialists take you through a complete guide to pole dancing heels! 👠👠

What are pole dancing shoes & why are they important?

Pole dancing shoes are more than just a fun and flirty extra on top of your outfit — in addition to complementing your presentation, the correct pole dancing shoes are a piece of equipment that can have a significant impact on how your pole dancing routine looks and feels due to their special made-for-purpose design! Sandal-style platform heels with open toes, open heels, and ankle straps with buckle closures are the traditional pole dancing shoes, and there are many types available with varying colours, materials, and heel heights to suit any dancer and their skill level. Sandals allow for maximum ankle mobility and allow you to pull off a wide range of shapes and movements, perfect for the Classique style of pole dancing, floorwork (dancing on the floor of the stage rather than using the pole), edgework (the technique where a dancer uses all of the edges of the shoe’s platform and the stiletto to dance with a wider range of ankle positions), or flow choreography (the smooth transitions between tricks that help pole routines look like a fluid dance and not just a series of acrobatic stunts happening one after another).

Are there alternatives to traditional pole dancing heels, like flats or boots?

There are also alternative options to traditional pole dancing heels like boots, which are available in both open- and closed-toe styles and can range from ankle bootie height all the way up to a sizzling-hot crotch height! Boots provide the highest level of support for the legs and ankles, and can also offer more grip surface against the pole since tall boots will cover the skin on the calves and possibly the thighs too. Boots are a particularly strong choice for exotic pole dance routines, intricate or complicated tricks, and extreme choreography thanks to the substantial ankle support they provide, which makes these high-intensity routines easier to execute safely and without injury.

(Here’s a hot insider tip for you if you’re considering dancing in boots: veteran pole dancers recommend wearing socks inside your boots and going up a half-size from your usual size!)

Some dancers may even go barefoot depending on the individual dancer’s comfort, safety, and personal style preferences — however, platform boots or pole dancing heels are generally recommended over going barefoot or wearing street shoes as pole dancing isn’t just hard on your feet, but also your calves, knees, and hips. Pole heels are literally designed to solve these problems so there’s no long-term discomfort or injury and will help you dance both on the pole and on the floor so you can execute pole-dancing moves like kips, clacks, and sweeps with ease. In short, pole-specific dancing heels both functionality as well as the aesthetic, combining the best of both worlds when it comes to shoes!

What are the benefits of wearing heels for pole dancing?

The main reasons why a pole dancer wears these special platform heels can include:

• Aesthetic appeal — we all know that high heels make a person’s legs look longer and more toned, which can enhance the overall visual appeal of the performance and create a more elegant and graceful look during both footwork and polework.

• Improved lines — high heels can help dancers achieve better lines and shapes while performing on the pole, elongating the legs and making certain moves like leg extensions and splits look even more impressive than they already are!

• Comfort — pole heels are designed to have a lot of force applied to them over a long period of time and as such, manufacturers like Pleaser use padded insoles with extra cushioning, which results in surprisingly comfortable platform heels. In fact, many people who struggle with regular or ‘street’ high heels find walking, moving, and dancing in pole heels easier, so don’t be put off by how intimidating pole dancing shoes may look!

• Extra grip + skin protection while executing tricks — anyone who’s tried it even once can tell you that pole dancing requires a strong grip on the pole, and a great way to improve grip is with a grippy shoe material like patent leather or PVC! This ‘sticky’ fabric works for any shoe style but is particularly effective on tall boots, which also offer more ankle support than other styles, making them a great choice for beginners.

• Stability & safety — believe it or not, those towering curved platforms are actually easier to move in while your toes are pointed (compared to regular high heels)! Also, the shank is all one piece for extra stability (meaning the heel, base, and platform are all made from the same piece), and the stiletto heel is reinforced with metal inside to prevent breakage and injury.

• Confidence boost — wearing high heels can boost your confidence and self-esteem, which can make your performance seem more captivating, especially if your audience is situated below the stage and has a good view of your feet. After all, who doesn’t love a sexy pair of heels?

• Personal expression — just like any other style of performance or dance, pole dancing is a form of artistic self-expression, so some dancers choose heels in accordance with their individuality and personality.

Overall, the main takeaway here is that dancing-specific pole heels are built differently than street heels and your bare feet. Here’s a breakdown of all the parts in pole dancing shoes that make them so good for their purpose:

Angled toebox/platform

The toebox (A.K.A the platform) not only adds height but is designed with a different shape and slant than a street heel to keep your toes pointed and make moving with pointed toes easier and more graceful by creating a seamless line that glides easily across the floor. It also provides more dancing surface since pole-specific shoes are designed to be danced on all over, not just the bottoms like regular shoes, but also around the sides, outsole, and the front of the toebox. Advanced footwork will have you doing moves like slides, slams, clacks, pivots, balancing, and pirouettes all over your shoe, especially on that front edge. A higher platform will give you a bigger surface area to do it all on, which allows better grip with the floor and allows the dancer to stay on their toes easier.

One thing to keep in mind is that the higher the platform becomes, the more the shoe will weigh, so taller platform heels (taller than 8 inches) require additional strength and flexibility and are generally reserved for professional pole dancers. For beginners, it’s recommended that you choose 8-inch (20cm) heels as the large front edge of the shoe can help you balance on your ‘toes’. 7-inch (17cm) or shorter heels work well if your choreography is more floorwork-based as these facilitate smoother movements and sliding across the floor, although coming back up on the toes can be more difficult since the front edge is a bit smaller.

Padded lining

With most regular shoes, making them more comfortable involves heading to the pharmacy or shoe store, buying a pair of padded insoles, trimming them to size, slipping them into your shoes, and hoping they won’t slide out of place as you do totally normal things in your shoes like walking or wiggling your toes. With pole dancing heels, the padding is built right into the shoe so it contours the shoe to your foot and is always in the right spot for your toes to feel that cushy comfort all night long!

Curved insole & outsole

Since you’ll be sliding around and balancing on the front edge of your shoe a lot, you might be wondering how to stop your toes from being squished, especially if you’re wearing open-toed pole sandals. It’s all in the insole, baby! The curved insole angles your toes upwards to prevent them from being crushed between the floor and the shoe during floorwork like toe drags, sweeps, kips, rolls, and slides. After all, overhanging toes are just asking for a stubbing, and that’s not something anybody enjoys, not you or your audience!

As for the outsole, the fact that it makes it easier to tip forward might seem scary at first, but that’s actually a good thing! The curved outsole helps you rock forward, get on your toes for perfect pirouettes, spin, and turn with the ease and grace of a gazelle.

Solid one-piece shank

The shank is the supportive base of the shoe underneath the insole, and with pole dancing shoes, this piece should always be made from a single, solid piece of plastic, meaning the heel and platform are not separate. This provides greater stability and support as the arch doesn’t flex like a regular shoe, helping you get up from or down to the floor in one go much more easily and supporting the whole leg.

Angled stiletto heel

Though the prospect of walking and dancing on a thin, spiky stiletto might seem daunting at first, pole dancing shoes take into account the high level of activity and stress the heel will take and are designed to offer as much support and balance as possible. They never go straight down from the back of the shoe but rather, they’re slightly curved inwards so the stiletto is directly under the heel of your foot to provide more support where you need it and stave off the cramps and fatigue you might experience with street heels.

Another great way angled heels help in pole dancing is that it gives you several extra inches to grab onto compared to just trying to grab your foot if you’re doing a move that focuses on flexibility and bending backwards!.

Ankle straps

Straps add ankle support and also ensure your shoe stays on your foot during kicks, sweeps, inversions, and other moves where your feet are moving quickly or in positions that don’t follow the normal rules of gravity. Don’t get us wrong, the slide-on mule styles can be totally sexy, but nobody at the club or dance event wants to take a pair of flying platform heels to the face!

Does pole dancing material affect performance?

When it comes to pole dancing shoes, there’s an endless variety of choices in terms of materials, colours, patterns, and styles to choose from! A shiny patent finish can assist with gripping the pole thanks to the ‘stickiness’ of the material when it’s pressed against the pole, whereas matte or faux suede styles can be more ‘slippery’ and make getting a good grip on the pole more challenging, so these are generally better suited for floorwork.

3D decorations and interesting textures like sequins, unsealed glitter, faux fur, and other delicate materials might not be able to withstand the usual beating that pole shoes take during standard routines and may get scuffed or damaged on the pole, so these are usually reserved for looking beautiful during prancing or burlesque routines.

Ready to strut your stuff and feel hot to trot doing it? Check out Sexyland’s range of footwear online online or at your nearest Sexyland adult stores, and shop sexy wear like hot menswear and women’s lingerie while you’re there to complete your erotic ensemble from head to toe!