Shoes, practice wear and floor kit for dancers in Joburg. Six days a week behind the studios on Juta Street.
See what we stock
Sprung started as a rail of shoes in the corner of a rehearsal room in Braamfontein, because the nearest place selling a decent split-sole was in a mall forty minutes away and shut by the time class came out. It is a proper counter now, two doors down from where it began, run by people who still take class upstairs on a Thursday. We kit out the contemporary and jazz classes at the training schools around Newtown, the crews who rehearse in the parking basements, and the studios that phone at seven in the morning because the marley has lifted overnight. If you are buying your first pair of shoes, bring your feet in and we will fit them properly rather than sell you a size off a chart.
A low black trainer with a split suede sole, so the foot actually arches through a relevé instead of fighting a flat plate. Broken in from the first class and quiet on marley, which matters in a room that is miked. It runs a touch small — if you are between two sizes take the larger one and we will lace it tighter at the counter.
R1 290.00Choose a size
Soft leather upper with an elastic instep panel and a full suede sole for turns. This is the shoe most of the training schools around Newtown ask first-years to arrive in, so we hold every size on the shelf through January and February. Wear the sole thin and bring it back in — where it goes shiny tells you exactly where you are landing.
R690.00Choose a size
Heavy ribbed cotton that still holds its shape at the end of a two-hour rehearsal instead of hanging off the shoulders. Cut long enough through the body to stay put through floor work, which is the only reason anybody comes back for a second one. Washes cold, dries flat, and does not go transparent on you.
R430.00Choose a size
Brushed-back cotton with a tapered leg and a flat drawcord you can tie without looking. Warm enough for a Highveld studio at seven on a July morning, before anyone has thought about the heater. It comes out of the machine the same shape it went in, which is more than we can say for most of what we have tried on this shelf.
R820.00Choose a size
Low-profile pads that sit under trousers and take the hit on drops and slides. The shell is matte nylon so they carry across marley instead of catching and stopping you halfway through the move. Sold as a pair, with elastic top and bottom so nothing bites behind the knee when you fold.
R395.00Choose a size
Woven cotton wraps for freezes and handstand work, long enough to cross the wrist twice and still tie off. They give a little as the session warms up and then hold there, which is what you want when your whole weight is going through them. Sold as a pair, and they wash with everything else.
R210.00Choose a size
Matte black vinyl tape for seaming marley or marking positions, wide enough to hold a joint flat under a full class. It lifts cleanly at the end of a season rather than leaving the grey line a studio then has to live with. One roll does roughly four seams across a standard room.
R280.00Add to cart
A block of amber rosin in a shallow tin for the corner of the studio, for the mornings the floor has gone slick and nobody can hold a turn. Crush it under a heel, step in it, get on with class. One tin sees a full class through most of a term.
R120.00Add to cartShop 4, 68 Juta Street. Tuesday to Saturday, ten until six. Courier is R110 anywhere in the country and shoes leave the same afternoon on anything ordered before two.
