What are irish dancing shoes called?

Answer 1

There are two kinds of Irish dance shoes. Both are black in color. The first shoe, called soft shoes or gillies, are similar to Ballet shoes but rather than having an elastic band, they lace up. Laces are arranged in a crisscross pattern which begins about where the toes meet the foot. The laces tie in a bow after being wrapped around the arch of the foot or the ankle if the laces are too long. The second type of shoes are known as hard shoes or jig shoes. These shoes are kind of a mix between hip hop dance shoes and tap shoes. Hard shoes lace up in the front and have a seam in the front portion similar to that seen in some men's dress shoes. These shoes also have a buckle that tightens over the top portion of the ankle. I mentioned that they were like tap shoes and hip hop shoes mixed? Well they have the large toe and heel going on but these are made of fiberglass and produce a loud tapping or clicking noise. Soft shoe dances are pretty soft and graceful whereas hard shoe dances are all about the noise and the music of the shoe. Now that I've answered your question, I wonder why you didn't just Google it?

Answer 2

In Irish dancing, you have two pairs of shoes.

The first pair are called soft or light shoes. They have a thin leather piece that goes around the base of your foot, and then long laces that go over the top of your foot near your ankle.

The second pair of shoes are called heavy or hard shoes. They have about a 2inch heel and a smaller piece of meatl at the front, acting as a front of shoe heel.

Answer 3

The soft ones are gillies and the hard ones are just called Hard Shoes. I take Irish dancing. THERES PROOF! Haha