Shoes

One of the most defining features of Irish dance is that there are two unique types of shoes: soft shoes and hard shoes. Brand new students may wear soft-soled (black ballet flat) style shoes available for purchase here. Dancers are not permitted to be in socks or barefoot during class, nor are street shoes permitted on our Marley-lined studio floor.

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Soft Shoes

New dancers should order SOFT SHOES within the first month of starting classes at District Irish Dance.

For female students, please order “ghillies” (Irish soft shoes) at this link.

For help with sizing, we recommend that you reach out to Fay's Shoes who can assist by having you send a diagram of your foot.

For beginner male students, please order black Jazz shoes with laces. Male dancers will eventually wear male-specific soft shoes with heels at this link. Your teacher will advise as to when these should be ordered.

Hard Shoes

Once the basics have been mastered, your instructor will advise as to when to order HARD SHOES. At District Irish Dance we typically start hard shoe in Shamrock II.

Here are the links to the most popular Irish dance hard shoe brands, all of which are suitable for beginner hard shoe dancers:

Fay's Shoes New York

Rutherford's "Super Flexi"

“Inishfree” - an alternative style of hard shoe geared for beginners.

Socks

All female dancers should wear “Poodle Socks” which are a special type of sock worn with all Irish dance shoes (and can be worn with beginners who are wearing ballet slippers). We sell Poodle Socks in a variety of sizes and styles at the DIDA studio. You can pre-order and pick them up at the studio here.

Male dancers will wear black crew socks.

Studio Shoe Exchange 🔄

Our Studio Shoe Exchange enables District Irish Dance clients to purchase approved pre-owned shoes. We also have a selection of new shoes available. While not all sizes are always available, this is a great place to start your shoe search! We accept donations of gently pre-owned shoes in exchange for studio credit. E-mail us to learn more.

Available SOFT SHOE SIZES

9.5

13.5

1.5

2.5

7.5

Available HARD SHOE SIZES

3.5

5.5

Available BOYS REEL SHOES