The Best Ballet Shoes for Girls – The Most Comfortable Shoe for Your Ballerina
Are you having a hard time finding a pair of ballet shoes for your ballerina? Choosing the right ballet shoes is important for your child to perform at her best and experience overall foot comfort. The golden rule of dance shoes is comfort whatever the style of dance is. I have put together a selection of the best ballet shoes for girls that are comfortable and capable of fitting girls with narrow, medium, or wide feet.
Things to know About Ballet Shoes
A ballet shoe is also known as a ballet slipper; this is a lightweight shoe that is created specifically for ballet dancing or modern dance. It can be made from leather, satin or canvas and they look like a reinforced pair of socks.
Although buying ballet shoes might seem pretty straightforward, there are a lot of different attributes that we must take into consideration to choose the right style. For example, providing your child with a ballet shoe that fits the shape of her feet perfectly is essential to ensure that your kids give their best performance.
It can be confusing for parents to choose the correct type of ballet shoes as there is a vast selection of dance shoes available. I am going to make things easier for you and show you the best ballet shoes for girls.
Key Features of Comfortable Ballet Shoes for Kids
The ballet shoes that I recommend are made out of leather and they feature a lightly padded footbed, suede outsole for maximum flexibility, and a pre-attached elastic strap to keep your child’s foot snug and in place. The shoes also offer extra support, which is recommended for beginners since it encourages the foot to work harder to achieve en-pointe.
Without further ado let’s take a look at the best ballet shoes for girls. Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links and we may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you click our links and make purchases.
Best Ballet Shoes for Girls – Comfortable for a Better Performance
Below you can find a selection of the most popular and better-made recommended ballet shoes for your child that come in narrow, medium, and wide widths, so please choose the shoe width accordingly.
- Order this ballet style by Stelle on Amazon
- 100% leather
- Constructed of soft leather upper and full chrome tanned suede leather outsole for durability
- Hammered pleats for smooth floor contact
- I suggest that you get this shoe a full size bigger than your child’s current foot size
- Order this ballet style Daisy by Capezio on Amazon
- 100% leather
- Constructed of soft leather upper and full chrome tanned suede leather outsole for durability
- Hammered pleats for smooth floor contact
- I suggest that you get this shoe a full size bigger than your child’s current foot size
All of these styles are the best-selling and most recommended ballet shoes for kids. You should always ask the ballet instructor what she thinks of the ballet shoes that you chose for your child and make sure the instructor approves.
Providing your child with a ballet shoe that fits the shape of her feet perfectly is essential to ensure that your kids give their best performance. A ballet slipper that is too long might compromise your child’s stability, making her more prone to slipping and falling. Imagine wearing a sock that is too long, it might bunch up and make your child more prone to stepping on it and falling.
Retrieving Your Child’s Exact Foot Length and Shape
I created a virtual shoe fitting service that will help you retrieve your child’s shoe size from home. In that article I help parents determine their child’s exact foot size and whether the child has narrow, medium, wide, or extra wide feet. I also will be able to tell you whether your child has a high instep or not.
Ballet Shoes for Girls – The 5 Most Important Factors to Consider!
The first, and most important thing to consider when buying ballet shoes is the fit. This also applies to every single pair of shoes that you buy for your child. The fit will always remain the top priority.
1️⃣ Fit — For ballet slippers and shoes in general, the single most important factor is fit. The shoe should fit like a sock or glove without puckers or extra material to pinch at the tip of the shoe. The shoe shouldn’t be too snug or binding to curl the toes inside the shoe or squeeze the ball of the foot.
2️⃣ Type of fabric — Before you choose a ballet shoe for your child, you should check the fabric from which the ballet shoe is made of. The vast majority and most popular ballet shoes are made from leather and canvas. The ballet shoes made from leather will usually hold up much longer than the ones made from other fabrics, but they will be more expensive than the rest of the choices (we are talking about a 5 dollar difference at most).
3️⃣ Consider the elastics — Most ballet shoes come with elastics included, but they may not be attached, this is because every dancer has slightly different shaped feet which means that the elastics need to be in a somewhat different position. This is why I always recommend trying the shoes at your children’s local shoe store, and have your child walk around the store to make sure that the shoes fit and that they feel comfortable on your kid’s feet.
4️⃣ Consider the colors — Ballet shoes come in various colors; girls always tend to go for pink, but always make sure to follow the instructions for classroom uniforms.
5️⃣ Consider the price — In general, ballet shoes are among the least expensive dance shoes. As a little dancer’s feet grow, new shoes will be needed every time she grows and you may be tempted to go for the cheapest shoes possible, but keep in mind that these could be poorly constructed and become a liability.
If you decide to get your child a pair of ballet shoes, please have your child walk around the house in her ballet shoes and make sure that they are comfortable before going to the dance class. Is there enough room for the toes to wiggle around?
We want enough space for the toes to move around the shoe comfortably but not too much space that will compromise your child’s stability. If the toes are jammed into the end of the shoe, then you need to go for a bigger size. You can now choose the best and better-made ballet shoes for your little girl with ease!
Are Any Other Shoe Choices Available?
Do not hesitate to contact me directly via email if you have any further questions or if you need a different pair of shoes for your child.
Does your child already own a pair of ballet shoes? Is there any particular brand or style that has worked better for her feet? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below so other parents can benefit from your experiences.
My daughter is a dancer and has wide feet. She has the most difficult time getting fitted for dance shoes, so this article was very helpful. Do you know of any good tap or jazz shoes that come in widths as well? Thank you!
Hello Luigi,
Yes, I recently wrote an article that describes the best tap jazz for kids. You can find that article here:
Wide Tap Shoes For Girls – The Best Tap Shoes For Your Girl With Wide Or Extra Wide Feet!
I hope this helps!
Thank you! My two and a half year old will likely start dance soon to help her continue to work on her coordination/gross motor skills once we age out of PT. She is also about to begin wearing orthotic inserts (your posts on that have been invaluable!). So my question is are there any ballet slippers and tap shoes that can accommodate inserts? Or will that just be an activity done without the inserts? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Leslie,
You don’t need to worry about putting an orthotic inside your daughter’s ballet shoes. Orthotics only fit in substantial footwear. Make sure you get her a good supportive sneaker in order for her to get the full benefit of the orthotic! Do you have a kids’ shoe storethat you can take her to be fitted for shoes in your area?
My daughter took ballet for two years when she was 5 and 6 years old. At that time we picked up a pair of ballet shoes from a department store but I never realized what factors are involved in choosing a good pair of ballet shoes. I wish her instructor would have told us. 🙂 She is pursuing some other sports this year, but if she does want to ever go back, I will definitely follow the advice in this post.
This article was really informative – thank you so much for sharing.
Tej,
In order for your daughter to perform at her best at any sport she decides to practice, she must wear the proper type of shoes for that particular sport.
It was interesting reading about how to choose ballet shoes.My granddaughter has been taking ballet lessons, and I have received a better understanding of the various types of shoes that are available. The points you brought out make a lot of sense, because we would want our little ballerina to be comfortable and do her best always.
My granddaughter also has the narrowest feet, and I didn’t know these shoes were available in narrow widths! Thank you!
Judy,
Yes, the fact that they come in a narrow width is really important. You wouldn’t want your granddaughter to dance in class with shoes being too wide on her since it might compromise her stability. You can probably benefit from reading a post I created about the best narrow shoes for kids:
The Best Shoes For Kids With Narrow Feet – Stop Hurting Your Kids Feet!
Thank you so much for this informative post, the information you’ve provided here is indeed very useful!
My little girl is 5 and keeps dancing around the house every day! She loves taking ballet classes, but the teacher told us we needed to invest in a better pair of ballet slippers since she kept falling down.
Also, what is the best material for a ballet slipper according to you?
Thanks once again!
The best material for a ballet slipper is leather. I presented you in the post with a selection of the best ballet shoes for children, they are all made out of leather WITH a leather sole to provide your child with more stability. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi there,
Awesome article, I was absorbed by the reading!
I was once a ballet dancer, and I use to wear these shoes. These are really comfortable and the sole grip well the floor, which is important when dancing, it prevents from slipping:) My daughter start to do ballet and she needs to buy a pair of shoes. I will show her this article, I already have an idea of what she would like:)
Thank you for this excellent post!
Daniella,
I am glad you enjoyed reading this post. I believe it contains valuable information for parents who have a child who does ballet. Wearing the right type of ballet shoes is important in order for the child to be able to perform at his or her best!