I wasn’t born with beautiful arches nor did I have any ballet training, but I am obsessed with gorgeous Yulia Z’s feet and the like. I’ll probably never have feet like hers (or legs, or abs, or arms…) however I can certainly make use of some arch/feet/ankle exercises. I’ve been doing my youtube homework and looking up many, many ballet feet-strengthening exercises.

I also decided to go down half a size in my latin shoes because I have too much toe-sole hanging out when I try to point (and my points aren’t that great to begin with) and I’ve also tripped over them before. I was having a great conversation with Amanda, the Canadian Aida distributor about what to do (she is wonderfully helpful, btw).

So in case you’re wondering what the guts of an Aida shoe looks like, here it is. For some reason, it surprised me how colourful it was:

aida guts

The end layers of the shoe layer-cake do need to be pried apart (vice grips and a flat-head screwdriver are necessary) and reglued. Clamp it all shut and allow them to dry overnight.

(i haven’t quite gotten to that yet – these are my old broken pair that I experimented with).

Having the right glue really helps. E6000 (a common go-to glue for ballroom dancers) isn’t strong enough. Try Lepage’s contact cement, which you can pick up at the hardware store for about $10. The stuff is crazy smelly, so a ventilator mask is recommended. It worked great for gluing on suede over my standard heels.

SHOE glue

So far that’s worked out pretty good. I was getting tired of having to set aside an actual budget for heel-protector replacements. Just make sure you work in a well-ventilated area!