Question: I normally dance in heels, but I’ve been practicing the drills in flat practice shoes. I just tried to do the spins in heels and nearly fell over. Just wondering if you had any pointers on spinning in heels, since I notice that you also practice in flats (on your DVD).

Answer: Spinning in heels will test your balance for sure. I practice in flats because I have flat feet and just standing around in heels for a long period of time starts to hurt my feet. Just like practicing spins in flats, it will take some time to get used to spinning in heels as well. Dancing in flat shoes all the time sometimes leads people to throw their weight into their heel to stop. This method for stopping lacks control and often leads to a loss of balance. So, the good thing about spinning in heels is that you slowly get rid of the habit of relying on your heels to stop your spin. One important thing to keep in mind is, even though you are in heels, it doesn’t mean that you need to be uncomfortably high on your toes. You really only need to make sure that your heel does not touch the ground and that the level you are at remains the same throughout the spin. Some people’s feet have deep arches and they feel comfortable being very high on their toes. For others, like myself, with flatter feet, being very high on my toes is uncomfortable. Find a position for your feet that is comfortable enough to maintain for longer than 2 seconds and is also technically correct (i.e. heels are not resting on the floor).