Why does Ali have different ballroom shoes? The other females have thinner heels on their ballroom shoes, Ali's heels are chunky.

Lower as well. I think it's injuries.

Yes. Because of her ankle injury.

She wore the normal ones before she got injured.

Thanks guys.

If you remember the reports of her second foot injury the estimates of how long it would take to recover were several weeks longer than the series had left.

That was also why it was pretty stupid of the judges to make points about needing to stomp more into the floor - it was obviously something that she couldn't do with bruised bones, taping and special shoes.

In some of the publicity shots you can see that she still had ankle supports on under tights right until she was eliminated. The lower chunkier shoes must have been to help with that too. If you watch her Charleston routine they managed to do quite a few bits of choreography where she had no weight at all on her right foot.

She did really well to carry on regardless, but in some respects it might be just as well she didn't get into the final as it would've been pretty tough on her feet to do 4 dances.

Ballroom and Latin shoes come in a variety of heel heights and shapes ; it's a matter of personal choice .
Some heel shapes have a wider area in contact with the floor and so may give more stability .
Heights vary but usually 3inces or 2 and a half . Lower heights are available though .

However, she's been out in high heels on the town.

I couldn't watch her dancing because my eyes were drawn to the hideous chunky heels.

Hideous? What a strange thing to say. I thought they were fine.

Boy you are easily distracted aren't you?

I never really noticed nor care until it was brought up here in the forum. But then, perhaps because I am a man and we don't notice shoes, unless you are a showmaker or possibly have a shoe fetish.

Fine maybe considering what she's been through, but I do not like dances that are not done in the correct shoes or heels.

I go to dance competitions and I do not like female dancers in gold or silver latin shoes for example, I find it draws my attention away from looking at the dancing as a whole, and instead wonder what on earth they have on their feet, can also draw your attention to their feet so you're looking for mistakes etc.

It's just one of those things to me! I hated the group dance the other year where the girls were all in the flat glittery gold pumps!

There are no " correct " heels .
Yes many pros wear 3 inch heels , but 2 and a half is equally acceptable and there are several shapes of heel both again equally acceptable.

She was told by the judges in week one or two that she was wearing too high heels .

It's because it hurts less for her ankle if she's on lower heels and I think she found it too tough to dance on thin heels.

I think the fact was that the heels although they were low, which is fine, they were considerably more chunky than the slim/flared heels usually used by the celebs and pros which did draw my attention to them more.

Hope for her sake her ankle heals in time for the tour.

If someone would like to post a picture of the shoes in question I would be able to identify them.

Also, just to re-iterate, there is no one type of ballroom/latin shoe that pros use - there are many, many types of dance shoe (if you don't believe me, you can look in my wardrobe where I have many which I was required to have by teachers or needed for specific routines . What you seem to be describing is a cuban heel, often worn by children and beginners until they can build up to the slimmer heel. The tan shoes worn on Strictly, and by many dancers are worn more commonly because the tan colour is supposed to make the lines appear more extended. Twenty years ago or so most female dancers would have worn silver or gold shoes but fashions change - this can also be seen in Ice Dance, where fewer ladies wear white boots and men wear black as they now favour tan boots for the same reason of giving longer lines. There is a good chance Ali was recommended to wear the shoes she had did by a physio/doctor or more experienced dancer, I doubt she was trying to draw our attention away from the dancing or to make herself stand out in any way.

I have just bought some dance shoes from International, and they are 2 inch tan satin spanish heels, and although my feet are fairly small, I guess for some posters they would fall into the category of being 'hideous", (although I think they look quite lovely and flattering ). As Bella Guerriera says, they are often worn by less experienced dancers. This is because they help balance.

What I find more incomprehensible is the weird array of shoes (trainers, ug boots) that the celebs wear when they are practicing. I couldn't do a spot turn unless I had proper practice shoes.