Has anyone ever tried doing dance workouts barefooted?

[pumptmuscle]

I recently got in Christi's Fantastic Four, which I highly recommend, and decided to try out Still Jumpin. I did some of it in the afternoon after I'd worked out in the morning, but I just wanted to see how I'd do with the choreo. I was happy to find I was able to do it with the modifiers but it seemed easier for me since I was barefoot (on carpet with padding underneath). I've noticed in the past that some step videos were too hard to do since my foot would get tripped up on the carpet so turns and pivots are a concern.

My question is, is it ok to do dance workouts, without a lot of jumping in them, while barefoot? My feet felt fine and it seemed much easier to do the moves that way. I thought of putting on socks but I thought they might slip. Could going barefoot hurt your feet (or possibly make them stronger)? When I do this as the full workout, I'd like to do it barefoot, or preferrably in socks. Would that be ok? Any suggestions appreciated.

[KathAL79]

I've done some low impact dance workouts barefoot, such as Chantal Pierrat's Soul Sweat.
I prefer shoes for workouts with impact, although if there's lots of turning I'll pull out my dance sneakers instead of my crosstrainers.

If you're having trouble with turning, I'd recommend checking out dance sneakers / dansneakers (sold by Capezio and Bloch) or putting a piece of slick tape over the toe box of an older pair of shoes. I don't feel comfortable using these with step, however, as the slicker toe box makes me nervous on the step surface, but I'm also not the most comfortable with step yet.

A lot depends upon the health of your feet and your flooring, IMHO.

[swankyswimmer]

I love Christi's Fantastic Four workouts!! For Hi-Lo Heaven and Still Jumpin' I usually workout in plain old socks (without shoes) on a carpeted floor. I don't find myself slipping around (but my carpet is berber I think, so it already provides some traction). It is much more comfortable for me and allows me to do all the twists and turns.

Sometimes, during the second half of the workout I notice that my feet start to hurt, so I have experimented a few times with putting BIG socks over top my nice cushioned shoes. My observations from that experiment:
1. I looked very funny
2. It was a weird sensation to move with socks over my shoes, can't quite explain
3. It was difficult to get the socks over the shoes even though the socks were many sizes larger than my shoes (they became VERY stretched out)
4. It was nice to have the additional support on my arches
5. I could still do all the pivots, twists, and turns once I got used to the feeling

I don't do that every time because I found it was a hassle to put them on, but it's an option for a day when my feet already hurt. But who knows, maybe I'll be paying for all this working out without shoes in another 10 or 20 years?

I look forward to hearing what the others say!

[warriorprincess]

Belly dancers almost always dance barefoot. This weekend is a four day dance festival called Spirit of the Tribes, where teachers will come from all over the world. There will be hundreds of us spending many hours dancing barefoot for several days :-)

[Kyra]

I do just about everything other than running barefoot; that includes lifting, karate, and yoga. I don't do dancy cardio because 1) I cannot dance and 2) I cannot dance, but I don't know why you couldn't dance barefoot.

[horsemom2]

Nia is supposed to be done barefooted and many experts including Pete Egoscue believe we should go barefooted whenever we can.

Barb S
who goes barefooted 98% of the time when indoors whether workingout or not

[pumptmuscle]

Thank to everyone for the responses. I had the feeling going barefoot would be ok but I wasn't sure if the cushioning would be needed. I'm going to try socks for Christi when I do the full workout. Hmm, maybe this means I'm not as choreo-challenged as I thought! (um, ok...maybe )