What is a Dance Blade?
A – If you examine dance blades, you might notice a few differences. First, they are short. Dancers tend to do lots of tight footwork, and the short heel gives less to get tangled up (step on, lock with your partner’s blades or your own, etc.). Secondly, they don’t tend to curve up as quickly on the front, so they are not particularly good for jumps and spins. Also, they do not have the pronounced toepick that is seen on freestyle blades, since they are not expected to be used for jumping. Dance blades are less forgiving than freestyle blades. Many dancers have experienced getting their weight too far back and falling over backwards! Dance blades are often narrower than freestyle blades. So far, I am unable to deduce a reason for this design feature, and have not heard it explained satisfactorily. They are definitely harder to sharpen accurately because of this.