I should have read the customer reviews before I bought these shoes. Had I seen them in person first, I'd never have bought them. I am not a serious dancer. I casually swing dance and go to the club once in a while. I was looking for some NORMAL shoes that would be a little altered for the purpose of dancing. I had seen a girl in my swing class with just the sort of shoes I wanted, and these looked similar in the picture. Oh, no. These do not have the firmness of a regular shoe. They are plastic-y on the soles and just elastic on the rest. They look pretty flimsy, and one of my first thoughts was, "How long could these possibly last?"

When I got the box, I was sure they were the bike gloves I'd ordered at the same time, because the type of shoes I ordered, or would ever think of ordering, would not be that lightweight. Wrong. They are extremely light, and they come inside a tiny bag you could carry in a small purse. They are definitely not filled out they way they are in the pictures here, unless your foot is in them. I just feel funny wearing them, both the way my foot feels and the way I look.

They are also not shoes I'd wear *on my way* to the club or swing dancing, because they are that flimsy-looking, not at all what I think I'd combine as walking or biking shoes, so I'd have to carry them around.

The only thing I'm really satisfied with is that they are the right size. BUT, if I were normally a size 8, I do not recommend buying size 7/8 because they will be too small. These shoes verge on a little small for me, and I'm normally 7-7.5.

I am going to read the rest of these reviews before deciding whether to try and dance in them (because I'm lazy and don't like sending things back) or just send them back.

Because it's mostly my fault for not knowing what these shoes were, I cannot give low stars, but it also goes to show that shopping online is not as intuitive as one would like.