What is it with some dance floors ?

[Raul]

Last week I went to a venue, changed my shoes and I noticed that my dance trainers were sticking to the floor, so I made a comment to a couple of my friends and they agreed with me. The floor is usually quite good.



As the evening progressed, the floor seemed absolutely fine.

Did my trainers warm up? Did the dancers stamp the stickiness down? Did the floor warm up? Did I notice the floor less as the evening wore in?

Was it my imagination? Should I change my friends? Should I consult a psychiatrist?

Or has anybody else noticed a phenomenon like this?

[Jamie]

The most likely thing is that you got used to the floor.. Usually happens to me when theres an overly fast floor... Towards the end of the night I've got complete control over the floor and it becomes my bitch

[Lee Bartholomew]

Either the other dancers have worn away all the crud on the floor or the floor has been polished and your shoes picked it up and you got used to it.

Did you have aload of flaky brownish stuff on your shoes after? That normally the floor wax that venues use to protect the floor from spillages.

Warm soapy water on your shoes gets shot of it.

[Rhythm King]

Unless it was ISH last Tuesday. Started off like there had been a Coca Cola fight, but after the intermediates, some surreptitious powdering may, or may not, have taken place, allegedly M'Lud (not by me either!)

Mind you the crud on my shoes afterwards was appalling.

[Raul]

Yep!

All very valid points Guys. That also explains the crud i had to clean off my shoes the next day.

[ducasi]

At the Stirling WCS weekend a week or so back, the floor in the main room was rather slow, but as the night went on a layer of something came off the floor and left it nice and slippy as I remember it from the past.

It was too loose to be varnish, and the flakes were too big for it to be wax. I reckon it was a non-slip coating that had been applied to it.

[Astro]

Unless it was ISH last Tuesday. Started off like there had been a Coca Cola fight, but after the intermediates, some surreptitious powdering may, or may not, have taken place, allegedly M'Lud (not by me either!)

Mind you the crud on my shoes afterwards was appalling.

Oh dear, there is a party of forumites going to ISH tomorrow.
I hope they have cleaned the floor.

Will you be there again Rhythmn King or are you still cleaning your shoes.?

I have stopped wearing my suede soled sandles as it's too much like hard work cleaning them.
They have are a beige sole.

Why are the floors so dirty and slow.
Who is reponsible for checking the floor beforehand?
Should it not be checked well in advance in case it needs cleaning?
To remove all dirt, I need to use sand paper and suede cleaner spray as well as my wire brush and rubber brush.
If you leave the spray on a few days I find it helps, but not if you need to wear them the next night.

[Lee Bartholomew]

To remove all dirt, I need to use sand paper and suede cleaner spray as well as my wire brush and rubber brush.
If you leave the spray on a few days I find it helps, but not if you need to wear them the next night.

The quickest way to ruin your shoes !!!!!!!

Easiest way is just washing up liquid and warm water. get the soles wet, massage washing up liquid in, then rinse off under hot tap. Repeate if need be. Leather / Suede soles take about an hour to dry.

Your dance shoes are the most important item in your dance bag, sanding them and wire brushing them does them no good at all.

[Astro]

The quickest way to ruin your shoes !!!!!!!

Easiest way is just washing up liquid and warm water. get the soles wet, massage washing up liquid in, then rinse off under hot tap. Repeate if need be. Leather / Suede soles take about an hour to dry.

Your dance shoes are the most important item in your dance bag, sanding them and wire brushing them does them no good at all.

Thanks for telling me Woodface.
They are Freeds, so must be extremely strong to withstand my ministrations.

Next time I'll try the washing up liquid method. (I use that method on my Bloch trainers).

Also I have a pair of black shoes with leather soles. Do I use washing up liquid on those too re. your post above? Or shoe polish?

[Lee Bartholomew]

Thanks for telling me Woodface.
They are Freeds, so must be extremely strong to withstand my ministrations.

Next time I'll try the washing up liquid method. (I use that method on my Bloch trainers).

Also I have a pair of black shoes with leather soles. Do I use washing up liquid on those too re. your post above? Or shoe polish?

Def not polish on the soles.

Go with the washing up liquid every time. Just make sure you rinse it all out. Masage the soles with your fingers.

If you need to dry them quckly then hair dryer at med temp. Not so hot it burns your fingers.

Just done mine. took 5 mins. Before during and after pics below. Pic one is the sole. Pic 2 is a close up of wax on the heal, its the brown sticky stuff thats commonly found on the bottom of shoes. Pic 3 is with the washing up liquid on. Pic 4 is w3ashed but wet. These shoes have had a good 100 odd hours worth of dancing but soles still look good as new.

[littlewiggle]

Last week I went to a venue, changed my shoes and I noticed that my dance trainers were sticking to the floor,

Anyone tried Marcus Garvey lately? The floor is like the hills and hollows! It's always so incredibly sticky too making spins very difficult.

[straycat]

Or has anybody else noticed a phenomenon like this?

Ironically, there's a popular Newcastle venue which has exactly the opposite problem. It (usually) starts off with a nice slippy floor, then at some point in the evening turns to glue (as it starts to heat up). Nowadays I always make sure I wear suede soles to minimise the difference - Blochs & the like are a very bad idea on that floor...

[DavidY]

I think that some venues with poor ventilation have floors that get stickier as the dancers get sweaty and the humidity rises.

[Astro]

I think that some venues with poor ventilation have floors that get stickier as the dancers get sweaty and the humidity rises.

Yes at Chiswick on Satuday the humidity was "through the roof"(if only).

I found it impossible to spin more than once.
Tried to spin twice in the small room and it was so sticky I lost my balance. I was so embarrassed because I put my hand out to steady myself onto a neighbouring female dancer's breast.

I apologised straight away and after the dance and luckily the lady was very good about it.

It's a bad show there. They often have the big old iron radiators on.