<p>Lexismom…I think I was the one who brought the La Duca character shoes up in another thread a couple of months ago. My daughter had told us that many of her classmates had those. And yes, they are expensive. Luckily, her grandparents treated her to a pair and I must say, she loves them and says they are not like any cheaper character shoes she has had in the past. Normally, in dance classes, over the years, she has worn jazz shoes or jazz sneakers (or ballet shoes or tap shoes, depending on the class) but not character shoes. But in shows, she has to dance in character shoes. So, in her classes at college, she now has to start tap dancing and doing jazz in character shoes. This past summer, she was in a professional show in which she had to dance a lot. She wore the La Ducas for the first time and said they were amazing and easy to dance in. She used to hate dancing in heels until now. Now, she’ll have them for class and shows. Before, she didn’t use heels in class. This year, in tap, she has to tap in heels and her tap shoes she has had until now were not heels. They were slip ons that had a flexible sole, which she really likes. But I found a new character tap shoe (not La Ducas) that are flexible made by Capezio and so now she has those for tap. I suppose if someone didn’t invest in La Ducas, these character tap shoes with the flexible sole might make a nice character dance shoe as well, for less than La Ducas. She has six dance classes per week, three days per week and then there are shows, plus summer productions, so I think these shoes will be well used. Of course, the price is a lot. One way to think of it is text books cost a lot too and so for dance classes, there are no text books and the dance shoes are like the material fee! 
(at least they cost WAY less than my other D’s ski boots)</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>PS, sorry I hadn’t seen your post, Kat, when I had posted just now. I can’t recall Leximom’s D’s background (sorry!) but some kids in BFA programs, have been dancing for 13 years or so before they got to college and are advanced dancers. That has been my own child’s background. I agree that a beginner might need a differet shoe. But the flexibility of La Ducas is nice as a character shoe since many are not made as a good dance shoe, which is why my D always preferred her jazz shoes over character shoes in the past. Even her new heeled tap shoes are flexible at the mid sole which is what her non heeled ones are and so that really makes a difference to her.</p>
<p>I think she may have Alexis based on the description. She got them in NYC in person.</p>