Tango shoe styles, materials and heel heights
Tango shoe soles
The important thing about Argentine tango shoes is that you need to be able to pivot on the ball of your foot, and for that you need the right sole.
Tango shoes basically come in two kinds of sole - leather or suede - which pivot well. Suede is sometimes called chromo or cromo in Argentina. Some shops do a full cromo and a half cromo - a half cromo is harder and less fluffy than a full cromo, kind of halfway between leather and suede.
Personally, I like the leather soles, but this is a question of personal preference. Sometimes suede soles are more supple than leather ones, but not always. If you dance on very slippery floors, suede offers you a little bit of grip. If you dance on fairly rough floors, suede may be too grippy.
It's a good idea not to get suede wet, but if it does you can brush it up with a wire brush - not the kind you buy at a hardware shop, though! It's better to get the ones that are made especially for dance shoes. You can buy those at most online dance shoe shops, or on eBay, and they're pretty cheap. They're also good for leather soles, if you find your brand new leather soles are too slippery, brushing them a little with one of these wire brushes will help. Or you can scuff them up on the pavement.
Tango shoe uppers
You can get tango shoes in every material you can think of. Some are harder wearing than others, some are softer than others. I'm putting the Spanish word next to the English word here to help you if you shop on Argentine sites!
- Leather (cuero)
Leather is my favorite choice for tango shoes. It's hard-wearing and will last a long time, but it also softens well and stretches so that it molds itself to the shape of your foot. - Suede (gamuza)
Suede is the stretchiest of all tango shoe materials - so much that sometimes shoe makers make their suede shoes a little smaller than normal. For this reason, suede is a lot of people's favorite, because it becomes so comfy. It doesn't last as long as leather, and needs a little more looking after. - Mara (no English equivalent, as far as I can tell)
I've never come across mara anywhere but Comme Il Faut, but it's a thin, shimmery material - like a softer version of lame. It feels like suede, but it shimmers with a metallic tint. I love it. It's as soft and supple as suede, and stretches just as much, so it's very comfy. It does scratch easily, though, so I tend to save my mara shoes for special occasions. - Fabric (terciopelo is velvet)
You can get tango shoes in plain silks and satins, velvets, or all kinds of patterned fabrics. They're more easily damaged or dirtied than leather shoes, of course, but they are very pretty. I find that most fabric shoes don't stretch much at all, but my very favorite pair of tango shoes are made of very thin, soft silk, and those stretched just the right amount. Sometimes shoes have a border made of fabric, like bias binding, almost. Those I find to be very stiff indeed. - Treated leather
For example, leather coated with a metallic snakeskin. Again, these tend to be very stiff. Printed leather is usually just like leather. Animal prints are often popular. Anything that has a fur-like effect is usually pretty stiff. - Glitter
Very pretty, but very stiff, because of the glue that's used to stick the glitter to the underlying leather.
Tango shoe styles
There are usually two main questions with tango shoe styles: open-toe or closed-toe, and the strap. People can feel very passionately for or against open-toed or closed toe shoes. I'm a fan of open-toed tango shoes. I feel my toes are more free that way, and that makes it easier for me to dance - the toes play a huge role in balance. The downside of open-toed is that there's nothing to protect your tootsies from the inevitable occasional tango accident. So, the big upside of closed-toe is it protects your feet better. The downside is some people feel their toes get squashed.
Peep-toe is another popular style for tango shoes. Generally I find the younger women prefer open-toed and the older women prefer closed or peep toe.
The strap also has a big effect on the way your shoes feel. Usually the strap is placed quite high across the ankle, which is pretty secure. Sometimes it's placed low down, almost like a Mary Jane. Another popular style is one asymmetric strap, going from the instep to the outside ankle. It's very pretty, but I find it less secure - I like my tango shoes to feel practically glued to my feet! The most stable strap I know is when there are two straps criss-crossing over the ankle.
Then there's the heel cage. I feel more stable in a full heel cage. Slingbacks are beautiful, and a lot of people love them, but I find my heel tends to creep inwards in a slingback, and I need to be able to trust my heels to dance tango!
Tango heel heights and styles
Tango heel heights and styles vary hugely by brand. Anything from 2"-4" is normal. Stilettos are very popular, but some people feel more stable in thicker heels. This is so much a question of finding what works for you, but there are two pieces of advice I can give.
The first is that, generally, if you dance close embrace all the time, you will probably prefer a higher heel - 3"-4". If you dance open embrace a lot of the time, you will probably prefer a lower heel - 2"-3". I dance both ways, and I wear a heel bang in the middle - 3" - because there's no way I'm changing shoes every time I change partners! This isn't a set rule by any stretch of the imagination - I've seen dancers in all kinds of heels - but my experience is that the nuevo dancers tend to wear a slightly lower heel than the traditionalists.
The second is that if you're used to one heel height and you change to another, your balance is likely to be off for a while. It will adjust, but it may take a little time. So if you're not used to heels and you want to wear the really tall ones, you might want to consider working up to it gradually.