This is probably the 4th or 5th pair I've owned of these shoes. I dance in them daily until I've completely worn them out. The first pair I bought, I took everyone's advice and ordered a whole size bigger than my street size. But that quickly stretched too much and didn't give my feet the support needed during turns because the pad will move beneath the ball of your foot. These shoes are designed to be lightweight. I think they're the closest you can get to bare foot dancing while still protecting your feet.
I normally wear an 8 1/2 or a 9 in shoes. For these, I buy the 9. Yes, it's a tight fit at first but after a few weeks of daily dancing they stretch out some and fit your foot like a glove. I like to wear the strap across the top of the foot at first and then switch it to the heel once they aren't as tight.

I would give these 1 star based on durability. However, I gave them an extra star since my dancer loved them and said they were very comfortable--for the entire two hours or so she got to wear them. They only lasted her two (2) 55-minute dance classes. When she put them on on day 3, one shoe tore apart. A huge chuck of the leather (pleather?) ripped right off the toe. The other shoe is also very worn for just two hours of dancing. I've never seen a dance shoe scuff and wear this badly before. That said, because my daughter really liked wearing them, we are getting a replacement and crossing our fingers this was a case of a genuinely defective product and not what we can expect from all Freeforms in the future.

Do note that these shoes definitely run smaller than street size. I believe Capezio recommends getting a full size larger than you normally wear, but depending on the width and girth of your foot, a size and a half may be a safer bet.

So first off, I want to say these for and feel amazing!! They would totally get five stars if the back elastic on my right shoe didn't rip off. After two days!! I'm not a serious dancer. I wrote these for maybe an hour a day. But I have still only had them two days! Anyway, the design and comfort and practicality are great. The mesh keeps my feet from sweating in them, so that's nice. Just wish they wouldn't have broken. The other side is showing signs of doing the same thing.

I sought these shoes out after seeing another dancer wearing them because they are so pretty and lightweight. I didn't read the reviews carefully before buying and just bought my street size. When they arrived I couldn't even get them on my feet, they were that much too small. So I returned them, read the reviews and bought a size and a half larger. Still too small. I think another size up would have done it, but I was tired of the back and forth by then, so I just went to a store and paid for the convenience of being fitted and getting the right size in one trip - a pair of bloches though, because they didn't carry these. I'm glad, though, because the dancer I initially saw wearing these capezios has already almost worn through the toes.

I really liked this shoe so after reading the reviews of how it fits small, i bought a size higher. It fit 'perfect'. It really did. But- the toes still felt awfully restricted for dancing (to me fit fine for barre exercises) so I bought another pair because I have money to burn, and I bought the extra pair 3 sizes higher than what i normally wear. They seemed to fit the length of my feet better. Toes still tight but at least a little less tight. But, instead of the soles of the shoes (beneath the balls of your feet) being longer like I would have thought, they aren't long enough to fully cover the balls of my feet so you can't glide, etc (dancing/floor work). I wear them around the house as slippers. I do use the first pair I bought every day for barre/dancing with just a small tinge of annoyance due to tightness in the toes:) Other than that, they're great shoes.