Student Blog: The Cult of LaDuca

It’s tough for a musical theatre-loving teenager who lives 2460 miles from the Great White Way.  You try to connect to anything that reminds you of Broadway and the people who work there.  That’s why I have been obsessed with LaDuca dance shoes.  Similar to a basketball player wearing their favorite professional shoes, whenever I put on a pair of my precious LaDucas, the same shoes that Broadway professionals wear, I feel, even in my high school outside of Los Angeles, like I am one of them. 

Yes, LaDucas are the gold standard for Broadway performers, like Capezio and Bloch leotards and Grethers pastiles.  They are expensive so I save up for them myself with babysitting jobs and being a summer camp counselor.  And while I like labels, it’s more than that - it’s a way to feel connected to the people and the place I want to be. 

I didn’t grow up as a dancer.  I can't whip out a million turns and my jumps aren’t the highest but when I lace up my LaDuca Annie boots, I feel like anyone who sits behind the audition table just might think I can.  I have a different kind of confidence that’s hard to put into words.

Maybe it is a sense memory.  The first time I stepped into the LaDuca store on West 45th Street, I was a freshman in high school and was immediately in awe of the Broadway history that was made there.  Maybe it was the photos of legends like Cheetah Rivera and Patti LuPone hanging on the walls, or knowing that so many Broadway performers have tried on their shoes there.  Or maybe it was just the boxes and boxes of tap, character, and dance shoes that lined the walls, each waiting to be danced in.  You feel like you are part of their world just by being there.  

I was at a theater festival this past October with theatre kids from all around California, but when I met another girl wearing the same LaDuca boots as me, it was our own special connection. A connection between two girls from different towns, and a connection between us to the actual professionals living the dream on Broadway.

When I move to New York this fall for college, I know that I won’t have a crazy disposable income for things like shoes, but every time I put on the LaDuca’s that I saved up for so diligently, I feel like I’ve already made it