<p>^Purple9, i had the exact same questions as you did for boys shoes and i got excellent advice from a male friend who is currently a choreographer and was a principal in CATS and in A Chorus Line on Broadway in the 80s. He recommended Capezio as well as Bloch. We ended up going to the Capezio store in Times Square last week (we live close to NYC)to get his shoes for his CAP21 summer program and got very comfortable shoes in all the varieties (ballet, tap, jazz). I was so happy that I didn’t try the “on-line ordering” route because when it was all said and done, he had three pairs of shoes in three different sizes (14-12.5). I would have NEVER figured that out on our own. </p>
<p>His ballet slippers were basic black cloth (I was surprised to learn that we had to sew the straps to the inside of the slipper ourselves-clearly we had never done this before), his tap shoes were a mid-price range pair that were very comfortable, and his jazz shoes were black flexible bootie type, which DS claims is the most comfortable of the three. All Capezio brand.</p>
<p>We didn’t have time to investigate Bloch shoes, but again, have heard great things about them. </p>
<p>Hope this helps. DS is NOT a dancer (yet) but will have LOTS of dance this summer at CAP21 so we should be more well-versed in shoes by summer’s end. 
Giggle.</p>