Hi SanFranDanseur. I think there are more of us out there than you think. If I ran a dancewear shop I would perhaps target male dancers as it could prove to be quite lucrative. I personally prefer to try the shoes on in the shops as I stated earlier the same size is in fact not the same size according to the different manufacturers they can all vary dramatically. For example I'm size 9 street shoe, size 7 Gamba, size 7 freed canvas,10 Freed leather and 10 Sancha. Sizing is I feel a very rough approximation when it comes to ballet shoes. Bye[/i]