Buying good tango shoes in England is not easy, which is why this page was one of the most requested by our tangueros. The page will be built up gradually, and is not yet complete. It will be constituted by brief comments from our regular dancers who have actually used particular shops/companies, giving factual information about their service and speed, and the quality of their shoes. We will not put any information about a company on this page unless at least one of our regular dancers has personal experience of ordering from it, and we will only list outlets that the majority of our dancers can use (eg. local shops or internet).

The internet companies do have a much wider range of shoes, and are often more authentic ie. the shoes are real tango shoes, not just (ballroom) latin ones. However, they are usually very slow, and there have been problems with some of the orders put in by our dancers. If you want shoes quickly, an old-fashioned shop is probably your best bet!

We are quite disappointed in the availability and range of good, basic shoes suitable for tango classes, and it may be that we should research alternatives, such as offering a small range of basic shoes ourselves. If you are a student in one of our classes and have a view on this, please contact us and let us know what kind of shoes you are looking for, whether you managed to find them, and where you found them. We'll collate all the info and see whether we can propose a more satisfactory solution for our dancers.

Local shops

Dance Store UK (top floor of Dance Junction)
681 Maidstone Road, Rochester, Kent, ME1 3QJ
Convenient for our Rochester students, as this is in the same building as the one we teach in on Mondays, and not too far a drive for our Canterbury students (there is easy and free parking available outside), this shop sells a wide range of dancewear and dance shoes. Women should take a look at their latin shoes, and they do stock some closed-toe styles that look particularly tango-ish. They also have men's dance shoes and trainers.


Hip Hop Fitness and Dancewear shop
Longmarket (Upper Level), Canterbury, CT1 2JS, 01227 762512
Convenient for our Canterbury students, this shop sells dance wear and dance shoes. If you say you are attending our tango classes, you will get a 10% discount on your shoes. They have a nice range of dancewear, including practice trousers for women, and dance trainers for men and women.

For women, the shop sells a limited range of latin (ballroom) shoes and 'character shoes', both of which are good for beginners to dance tango in; Sarah started in character shoes, and still wears latin shoes for much of her class teaching and practice. For men, the choice is limited, unless you're looking for dance trainers.

The owner is Kirsty, who is really approachable, so you could try contacting her before setting off to the shop, to see whether what you're looking for is in stock. You can also shop online at www.hiphopfitnesswear.co.uk

Internet companies – British

Zem Dancesport
Several of our regular female dancers and at least two of our male dancers have ordered a lot of shoes over a couple of years from this company.

Ignore the dreadful term ‘dancesport’ (this is really a ballroom dancing site), and you’ll see they actually have a good range of shoes suitable for tango (women need to look for ‘latin’ styles). The shoes from the big names (eg. Freed, Dance International) are very good: they fit well, there are some good budget ranges, and best of all, in most sizes and styles you can try them and then send them back if they don’t fit. They are very good for basic class/practice shoes in a range of styles.

Despite being based in England, though, Zem is often slow. They stock a range of companies’ shoes, and the speed of delivery seems to depend upon the company in question. For example, if you order shoes from one of the best quality ranges, Dance International, you can wait months for the shoes to arrive, with no real explanation. Other companies seem faster (eg. Tango OK). So don’t order from here if you’re keen to get the shoes quickly. The exception seems to be sale stock – this arrives fast!

Internet companies – overseas

This section will be completed when we have more reviews from our regular dancers.

Page updated August 2008