Nekia Durant has been practicing her stiletto strut since she was 2 years old. Even so, she doesn’t have a clue how to walk in high heels.
“I’ve taken my life in my hands in heels,” admits Durant, a 30-year-old health-care worker. “I’ve had my heel stuck while crossing the street, with traffic bearing down on me.”
Which is why she signed up, with her mother, Peggy, for the class “How To Walk in High Heels New York City,” at a Chelsea dance studio earlier this month, alongside several other wobbling fashionistas.
The hourlong class, a group workshop that teaches women how to navigate the tricky terrain of Gotham, is the first of its kind, says instructor Victor Chu. For $50 at the Legwork school, a pupil will learn how to master uneven sidewalks, surprise subway grates and kryptonite cobblestones that send stiletto-clad ladies flying.
New Yorkers MArnie Hampton (from left), Wendy Myers, Lanisha Frazier and Peggy Durant are learning how to walk in heels from Victor Chu. (Anne Wermiel/NY Post)
Instructur Victor Chu has students walk barefoot to practice the heel-to-toe technique before strapping on high heels. (Anne Wermiel/NY Post)
Navigating Manhattan in heels presents many dangers — including sudden sidewalk grates. (Anne Wermiel/NY Post)
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In a world where stars like Kim Kardashian refuse to give up their superstacked Louboutins (even while six months pregnant), stilts are here to stay — and unfortunately “they don’t come with instructions,” Chu says.
Formerly a shoe designer for Reebok and Ugg, Chu says he launched this class after noticing high-heeled women “falling down into subways.” At the same time, his business partner, shoe-designer Cece Chin, noticed her professional dancing friends could spend 12 hours in 7-inch spikes without a stumble.
“Ninety-five percent of women don’t know how to walk in high heels,” Chu says. “Women think heels are sexy because men think they’re sexy. But you see women wear this pained expression and shuffle. I’ve seen guys giggle at them — it’s not sexy. Bottom line is, you need to be fit to walk in heels with stability.”
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His class starts off at the ground level: Walking barefoot to “get in touch with the anatomy of the foot.” Chu tells his students they should be walking heel to toe, not the other way around.
“High heels pitch you forward and force you into an unhealthy position,” he says.
Calf and ankle stretches follow, and then a lesson on the three tenets of good posture: engaged abs, relaxed hips and knees, and straight-back shoulders. And, though the city is an obstacle course, he urges women to look up — to avoid slumping.
Healthy ankles are a must: His students moan in pain as Chu forces them to build strength by drawing all the letters of the alphabet in the air with their feet.
During the exercise, Peggy Durant, 44, got to “C” before writhing in pain. Nevertheless, she remains undaunted. The last time she wore heels years ago, they were a lot shorter, but she wants to keep up with fashion.
“I want to own a pair from ‘Sex and the City’ — Blahniks,” says Durant. “My goal is to wear those heels.”
Marnie Hampton, a 38-year-old Bronx-based investment banker attending the class, says high heels are a must for ambitious women.
“Our managing director once said, ‘To get the part, you have to look the part,’ ” Hampton recalls. “You see the successful women in high heels. I’m not going to get ahead in ballet flats.”
And most women are willing to suffer for their success. According to a study released last month by the UK’s College of Podiatry, major pain kicks in after just over one hour and six minutes in high heels. And 20 percent of women report acute pain after a mere 10 minutes in heels.
All that pain is leading women straight to their doctors. Dr. David Levine, a foot and ankle surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery, says he’s seen a spike in female injuries, and adds that narrow, ill-fitting high heels are the main culprit. He estimates two-thirds of his patients nowadays are women.
Yet for some women, resorting to sensible shoes means a topple off the career ladder. Last month, a Foxwoods casino cocktail waitress, Cheryl Haase, sued her employer for enforcing a high-heel rule, leaving her with sky-high medical bills to treat her battered feet, which she claims are chronically inflamed.
And so, many go-getting gals simply slip on their strappies, don a brave face and put their best foot forward.
“I just bought these,” says Wendy Myers, a 42-year-old VP at an investment bank, as she fishes a 5-inch tangerine open-toed pump out of her Louis Vuitton satchel during the class. “I want to learn how to walk in these. My goal is to bring these on vacation to LA this summer. Fashion is dedicated to high-heel platforms — that’s hot now. You either conform or get left behind.”
Chu started the Legwork school in NYC in 2006, to give one-on-one walking sessions to dancers, models and other women seeking balance in their lives. But he says he saw a demand for group classes, and launched them at the Stepping Out Studio this summer, at a time when women are most likely to experiment with the craziest shoe styles.
And though Chu will work with whatever shoes you’ve got, he’ll tell you if your beloved Blahniks are all wrong.
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Kneeling beside a fashionista’s foot, he can merely look at a heel — rock it back and forth, analyze the pitch, bend the sole — and know if you’ve wasted your $900 on flimsy deathtraps. “Most women do not want to hear this, but anything above 3 inches is really, really dangerous,” says Chu, 41.
And no woman should pound the pavement without practicing a few walks in a new pair: “Practice should be mandatory for any high heel. You can’t just go from wearing flats to 5-inch Vince Camuto patent-leather platforms,” Chu says.
And so his students walk up and down his studio as he barks commands: “Heads up! Longer strides! Heel to toe!”
At the end of the class, everyone is walking with confidence but feeling exhausted. With a sigh, Durant turns to her torturer.
“Have you ever walked in heels?” she asks Chu tauntingly.
“Oh,” Chu pauses, suddenly looking abashed. “No.”
dlewak@nypost.com