Why do some dancers use shoes and some go barefoot? The choice has to do with the amount of friction needed and how the dancer wants to feel the floor. Each dancer has their goal of the kind of feedback they want from the way their feet meet the floor. And for different styles of dance the goals are different for the same dancer.
With a dance shoe, the entire foot centers its focus on one area of the foot and it is easier to identify that point of contact when there is one unified sole. A dancer will sometimes want to have the sensation of all the nerve endings touching the floor and for these times, barefoot is best.
The dance shoe is designed to give that feeling of the floor and to move as if it were a part of the foot. That is the reason that the fitting is usually tighter than a street shoe. http://www.movineasy.com The soft leather sole gives the feeling of the floor with the control to be able to move quickly and stop easily.
As dancers work with momentum and gravity, the amount of friction affects the way they want to enter into a movement whether it is spinning, flying through the air, or rolling on the ground. Bare feet are often covered with a tape or a lyrical shoe to reduce friction and still give the impression of bare feet. The dance shoe is designed to respond to the smallest movement for entering a turn or a spin with the added control of being able to stop easily.
Hard leather soles are too slick to give this kind of control and do not allow the dancer to sense the floor as well as the soft leather sole. Street shoes and athletic shoes are not designed to move in every direction or to give the kind of feedback from the floor that a dancer needs.