< BACK DAnce shoes soft shoe Beginner dancers wear soft shoes. Girls’ soft shoes are similar to ballet slippers. Boys’ soft shoes are similar to jazz shoes with a heel. Beginner boys may wear jazz shoes until they are ready for the louder fiberglass heel. Click here to watch a video explaining how to tie your soft shoes. hardshoe After some training dancers will begin to learn hardshoe. Hard shoes are heavy leather shoes with fiberglass tips and heels and may be bought at the same places as the soft shoes (links below) or at our Boyle Thrift. For purchasing Irish dance shoes we recommend: Fays Irish Dancing Shoes Feis Faire Rutherford Products