My daughter is 4 years old. Her dance teacher is pretty nice about things, but I respect her dresscode anyway. Her dresscode is black taps no ties. She likes them to have the elastic tap fasteners. My daughter's last taps had a buckle strap and lets face it...she just couldn't get them fastened herself. I was worried because that means that her dance teacher had to put her shoes on for her. So I looked around for something cute, black, pretty and with elastic fasteners instead of ties. While these taps do have the ties, they're awesome because you can change them out for the adorable pink heart with black crown elastic fasteners that also come with the shoes. The only problem I had is that they don't come in half sizes. I wanted to buy a 11.5, but had to go up to a 12. Thats not even too much of a problem, because that means that she can wear these longer. Yeah these shoes are a little pricier than the regular taps, but the front design on them and the pink heart fasteners along with having the Disney Princess designs inside made my daughter extrememly happy. I've never seen her so excited about tap shoes before. She LOVES them. Now she can put these on herself, they're cute, and comfortable. These are made by Capezio and Capezio knows how to make danceshoes and dancewear. We will definitely be buying the 13's in a year!!!