My name is Giuseppe Maiolo and I am the originator of Ballo Shoes. Ballo shoes is a dance shoe company based in Montreal, Canada that offers dancers a dance shoe that is unique in styling and form. We are 2 partners, my sister Anna and I, a third partner is no longer with Ballo. We are both salsa dancers but not at the professional level.
         
Ballo Shoes was an idea that came to me after a year of taking Salsa lessons and realizing that I was going to need a pair of dance shoes. I started to look everywhere for something I liked and discovered that I didn’t like anything I saw. I saw that teachers and people were wearing those jazz slippers so I tried those. After breaking some of the little capillaries in my foot and having it turn blue I realized that this was not to be the solution. The dance sneaker lasted 2 tries and then I turned to running shoes. The sticky rubber takes its toll on the knees so that wasn’t the answer either. Standard dance shoes were simply not my style.
        
I started to look around and realised that guys couldn’t be happy with this situation seeing that everyone dresses pretty stylishly in Montreal but then came the shoes. Being a men’s fashion designer I decided; why not design my own? I wanted a fashionable shoe that was designed with comfort and fit for dancing and more particularly Salsa dancing. How hard could it be? I knew what my styling cues would be but I knew nothing about the manufacturing process. I realised that people were desperately trying to adapt to shoes that were designed with other purposes.

Contrary to popular belief I did not copy an existing shoe, I had the shoe manufactured and designed from the ground up to be a dance shoe. I had a shoe last made from scratch and then went about trying to have them manufactured. I worked with a local manufacturer in Montreal who manufacturers nurses’ shoes and orthopaedic shoes to help make our original samples and prototypes.

I had them tested by the Canadian Salsa champion and other teachers and students to make sure they were indeed good. Unfortunately, the shoes were too expensive to manufacture locally so we tried overseas. In the meantime my sister, who is an avid dancer, suggested making them for women as well. When I showed the prototypes to my fellow classmates and dancers the girls immediately asked about them as well and hence the idea for the shoe to be unisex.

By the time we got the first shoes produced, more than a year had passed from the time I had the idea until I had shoes. Upon showing them for the first time to the salsa community at the Montreal Salsa Congress we realised that a lot of people shared my original sentiments including a lot of big name dancers. One of the biggest thrills came when I received a phone call asking for me and I didn’t recognize the voice; the voice says “it’s Eddie” so I say “oh hi” he says” it’s Eddie Torres” I say, “OH” and he went on to say they were the most comfortable shoes that he had ever worn and that they were great and that he wanted to get another pair. I knew then that I had done something right!

I would never have imagined meeting all the people I have or communicate with so many great dancers as well as people like me. We have had great support from the salsa community and the shoes keep getting shipped to places further and further away. We have been working hard to keep offering new and innovative shoes as well as improving on our existing shoes. This year should produce more styles and colors as I have been working with new suppliers overseas for the past 5 months to develop our new styles.

We have also been expanding into Europe so we hope that we can put Ballo dance shoes on the feet of anyone who loves to dance. We try to promote at as many Salsa events as possible but as the company and the line grows it becomes logistically more difficult. The shoes are also making inroads in other forms of dance such as West Coast Swing, Hustle and Ballroom as well as practice shoes so we are trying to do some of those events as well.

Dance studios throughout North America do a great job promoting our shoes by carrying them and instructors do a great job of recommending them as well. Our best promotion is testimonials and references from fellow dancers and for this we are grateful and we promise to keep making the coolest looking dance shoes out there for as long as people want something different.

Ballo Shoes

Comments (2) >>

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written by Ivette Murga, April 04, 2008

Iggie owns a couple of pais of these shoes and they are AMAZING! After he suffered an injury to his foot it was hard to find a shoe that would give him the support he needed to be on his feet teaching and dancing for hours. This was the shoe. The foot and shank support are amazing!! Try them out! Hooked On2 loves these shoes.

See you at the Orlando Congress
written by giancarlo, April 08, 2008

It was a great experience building Ballo shoes from the ground up. I think the greatest benefit was meeting dancers from coast to coast. I will continue to be a vendor at all the major salsa congresses, feel free to come by and visit my booth for congress specials. Check my website for my complete schedule www.gabellini.net
Last year was my first time as a vendor at the Orlando Congress it was a great event so I will definitely be back again in 2008.

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