Hello dancers and welcome to another installment of “Love It or Leave It”! Today we are discussing the beloved Capezio Barely There FootUndeez. The FootUndeez is a dance shoe alternative that covers the ball of your foot (hence the barely there reference), made of Nylon and Lycra Spandex, all topped off with two foot pads sewn onto the bottom for perfect mobility when executing turns. These shoes are perfect for modern, lyrical and even jazz classes! As you all may remember, Capezio’s FootUndeez were featured in our “What’s In My Dance Bag: 2020 Update” on IGTV! But how do we really, really feel about these classic dance shoe remix? Let’s discuss the pros, the cons and answer the infamous question: Do we love it? Or do we think you should leave it? Let’s go!
Capezio FootUndeez: The Pros
Awesome Shade Range and Print Selection
Firstly, I must commend footUndeez for their shade range. This is a dance shoe alternative that has always offered a good variety of shade ranges for their dancers and as an African-American woman in the industry, I have always appreciated that. It shows inclusivity and open mindedness that says that Capezio is fully aware that dancers of all skintones will be sporting this shoe to classes, recitals, competitions and beyond. I highly commend this factor and hope to see even more shade ranges added in the future! In addition to a nice selection of shade ranges, Capezio’s FootUndeez also comes in a variety of fun prints that dancers will love to wear casually, such as pink polka dot and the infamous zebra print, which I was super obsessed with at age sixteen and still rock to this day. 😉
Produces Awesome Turns
One of the biggest pros of Capezio’s FootUndeez, is the obvious fact that you can have all the turning benefits of a shoe without actually wearing a shoe. Now you all know, I am a jazz shoe type of girl, but on those days that I just don’t feel like wearing shoes, slipping on these bad boys are one of my first choices! FootUndeez provides you the freedom of not wearing shoes in your jazz, lyrical or contemporary class, while allowing you to have a good, and very solid, turning base. Especially if you’re trying to save your feet from the prospect of open calluses and blisters. Though they may be tiny, they are extremely protective. I’ve even put these on with my jazz shoes when I was healing an open blister and wanted to add greater protection to ensure that the blister wouldn’t get any worse while executing turns in class.
Great Design Factor
Another pro for FootUndeez is the design! Made with comfortable accommodation in mind, there is an opening for your big toes and another spacious opening for your other four toes. This allows a great amount of freedom in an otherwise very tiny shoe. I dare to think that this design aspect is what adds to the shoes’ practicality and keeps it from being and feeling awkward. It also allows a great range of movement in your toes and arch, allowing releves to be executed easily and without hassle.
Capezio FootUndeez: The Cons
Now of course we all know that with every list of pros, there is at least one con. However, the only con I have personally have with this shoe is that before breaking it in, this shoe is very tight. I mean, very. There were times in the break in process where I just wanted to slide them off and go back to the old faithful jazz shoes. However, just like any other dance shoe, once you break them in they are extremely comfortable. Whenever the time comes to buy a new pair, I will actually try the half size up recommendation versus the street shoe size recommendation, which I’m sure will make a difference. If you’re having a bit of trouble with it’s break in process, try pulling them with your hand and stretching them out a bit. It may take time, but they are well worth it!
So with all of the pros and cons on the table, now it’s time for the concluding verdict, which is that we love it! The FootUndeez have been around for literally decades and with good reason. They are a shoe that never goes out of style, both in appearance and in accommodation. And though there have been imitations of this classic, it’s class and style has never been duplicated. We are sure that the dance world will be seeing these shoes in classes, recitals and competitions for many, many more years to come.
Thank you all so much for joining us for this installment of “Love It or Leave It”! We hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as we did writing it. Have a wonderful weekend and remember…
Keep dancing!
Lexi
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