I absolutely love wearing heels. Not only is it powerful, it makes me feel like a billion dollars. I created a workshop at the Index Art Center in Newark, NJ, to help women and young girls work on walking in heels. The fun twist to this workshop, we started in sneakers. Yes what heels workshop starts off that way? If you know of one, let me know. It was a great concept. Everyone brought their own mirror, to watch how they walk. Here's how I broke the workshop down.
Phase one
Regular street walk, notice what moves, what doesn't move. Do you slouch? Do you look at the floor? Does your hand twitch? Do you make a fist? Notice things about yourself in your comfortable shoes first.
Your Comfortable Runway, with provided instruction on how to work a runway in sneakers, (coming to my YouTube channel soon) notice how your hips move. Your shoulders. Your arms, Your head. Do you still have any similarities to your regular street walk?
Final Sneaker Showdown, taking tips from the first two walks, now it's time to work on your model walk. Muscle memory is a thing, by being able to perfect your model walk in your sneakers, will make walking in heels not feel uncomfortable.
Phase two
Working your way up to a higher heel, helps with your stability, ankle strength, foot placement, and muscle memory. Next phase, wearing a 3'' to 4'' sandal with a strap for your ankle. Apply all of the first walks to your sandals. You're up a level now! Air feels different you feel different. What feels different about your Sandal Street Walk? Do your hips move more? Is your head up? Shoulders back? Still making a fist with your hand? What about your Comfortable Runway? Notice if your shoulders move while you walk with more power. Do you feel more confident in your Final Sandal Showdown? Each time you practice with your heels on every walk should be even more powerful than the first.
Phase three
Take it higher! Time to wear your 5" heels or higher! Some of my favorite heels are by Chinese Laundry, and Johnathan Kanye. In higher heels take all of the experience from phases one and two, and implement it to your showdown walk. This is your pageant walk, or your runway walk. Notice how your hips move, remember your foot placement from the heel to the platform of the shoe. Are you hunched over or learning back?
If you follow my TikTok account, I show you how to properly walk in heels, a few turns and tricks, plus how to stretch in heels.
I was super proud of this workshop and the ladies that joined me. We had a great time, learned a lot about one another, and the positive energy in the room was so loud. Should I host another heel workshop?
