---
title: "Grippy Versus Slick Shoes in Shag · Nicholas Tapia"
canonical: "https://dance.nicktapia.com/grippy-versus-slick-shoes-in-shag/"
tags: "shag, public"
diataxis: "explanation"
---

Library · explanations

# Grippy Versus Slick Shoes in Shag

I started dancing shag with grippy shoes and have since switched to slick shoes. I prefer slick shoes for my dance style and because at fast feet festivals, there's usually a fair bit of Balboa and I like to dance both. There are a lot of good things about grippy shoes and you can see some dancers dance *really* well in them.

In general grippy shoes make hard cuts or redirects very easy. Similar to a tennis player cutting across court.

Sliding shoes make gliding and some turns a much easier.

Take a look at this 2018 Camp Hollywood Shag Final video. For their spotlight, @Cherry Moreno and @Filip Górski were wearing (what I think are) Toms and Keds respectively. Neither of those shoes are typically *that* grippy but they certainly are more grippy than leather bottoms.

If you compare Cherry and Filip's spotlight to @Julie Roman and @Sean Carter their moves have a lot more changes of direction and large shapes, this is much harder to do when shoes don't grip. Julie and Sean do more slidy/coasting movements, which are easier to do in slicker shoes.

At this point, 2026-04-16 whether or not these shoes were or were not slick has been unverified, must ask next time I see them!

## More explanations

-   [Are Chugs a Move or a Basic](https://dance.nicktapia.com/are-chugs-a-move-or-a-basic/index.md)
-   [Shuffle vs Arthur Murray vs Stab](https://dance.nicktapia.com/shuffle-vs-arthur-murray-vs-stab/index.md)
-   [Why I Suggest the Shuffle Basic First](https://dance.nicktapia.com/why-i-suggest-the-shuffle-basic-first/index.md)