Ballet pointe shoes have a delicate appearance. But they have a hard tip, to enable the dancer to stand on her toes. But even with the support of the shoes, the dancer must still earn the technique to dance en pointe. Ballet shoes are usually pink for females and black for males.
Men wear comfortable leather shoes for ballroom dancing. Although there are many types of dances associated with ballroom dancing, women usually wear a Latin-style ballroom shoe. They can be high- or low-heeled shoes depending on the actual dance. American Smooth and American Rhythm are two of the most common ballroom dances in the United States.
Jazz shoes resemble regular tennis shoes, but they are made differently to allow dancing. Traditionally, jazz shoes fit comfortably around the foot to enable the jazz dancer to make quick movements.
Tap dance shoes are different from all other types of shoes. Tap dancing is reliant only on the shoe in contrast to ballet where emphasis is given to the pose of the dancer. That is why tap shoes are equipped with metal (taps) on the heel and on the tip, which very important since the tap actually has to be heard during the dance. Tap shoes are usually black, hard appearing shoes, although nowadays many different colors and styles are available.