Why do dancers wear high heels?

Question:As an avid follower of Strictly Come Dancing, I've always wondered why the dancers wear high heels as to me it would make the dance harder..?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: As an avid follower of Strictly Come Dancing, I've always wondered why the dancers wear high heels as to me it would make the dance harder..?

In addition to tradition and making the legs look nicer, there are some functional considerations.
In Standard dancing, one doesn't get to see the legs anyway, but it does get the ladies closer to the same height as the gentlemen. I've always been impressed with the ladies' ability to dance in the things, especially the heel turns, in which the turn is made with the entire weight on that tiny heel alone.
In Latin, the legs are seen, and the weight stays largely over the balls of the feet, the heels helping with the slightly forward poise. As a man, I vividly remember my first experience with Latin heels, which are only 1 1/2" (about 4 cm) high, but feel at first like you're on a steep incline. I gained an additional appreciation of the ladies from that!

to look tall

to look sexy ....
heels make the lefs look longer and feet look smaller ...(the ones with the tapered heels )
and long legs and small feet are considererd sexy and graceful

It makes their legs look longer and thinner!!!

The muscular tension involved in wearing heels makes the shape of the calf muscle more visible, that is considered pleasant on this planet....

Back on my planet...Ah well, what did we do before nostalgia...

Heels look better when you are dancing certain dances. Especially when wearing a swirly long dress.

Well the high heels that we wear to ance in are a special type of high heels. They give support to your arch and you are able to turn in them. And no we do not wear them to look TALLER!!!! We wear them because they look good with our cotume to...=)

To look sexy

Sometimes it is hard to dance in heels but after a while you do get used to them.
They are used for ballroom to emphasize heel leads and make them a lot easier. And it would be almost impossible to do good and correct heel turns without heels.
In latin they help push the dancers weight on to her toes to help her gain the foot pressure required to do fast spins etc on balance.
It also a tradition dating back a very long time ago