Jazz shoes help?

Question

I've my jazz shoes for about a year, although I haven't used them for the last 5 months or so. Anyways, the shoes are still in great shape but the bottoms are really slippery, mainly because I'm dancing on hardwood rather than Marley. Is there any way that I can "rough 'em up" a little? They're leather lace-ups by Bloch with a rubber sole. I've heard that with leather soled shoes you can run a sharp knife over them really lightly, would that work with these? Or maybe sandpapering them? I know I should buy new shoes, but right now I can't afford to! Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Answer 1

the tried and true method my drama teacher taught us was to put a couple layers of duct tape on the bottoms of your shoes.  the roughness it creates can help a lot with the slippery problem.  if your shoes are black you can even use black tape.  they can get a little cruddy though so i'd try putting the tape on for a few weeks then taking it off and seeing if you see a difference.

Answer 2

you can use ballet rosin on jazz shoes- just have a teacher/friend help if its your first time using it-you dont' want too much! but it really works!

Answer 3

Dance around on cement outside