Dance Shoe Rentals for New Floor

[raindance]

I suspect if you have one of the softer woods for your floor, you will have to accept dents from high heels, even if worn with heel protectors as your own tests have shown. (Some brands of heel protectors are pretty darn hard. And the rubbery ones don't slide across the floor as well.) You can certainly work to prevent exposed nails from the high heels from leaving large scratches by encouraging heel protectors, reminding dancers to check their shoes before going on the floor, etc.

As a dancer, I'd much prefer to dance on a softer floor that shows some signs of use (dents, for example) than on a harder floor that looks perfect but is harder on the feet and other joints.

Maintaining a consistent degree of slickness across the floor is certainly important and worth striving for. I'm with others that prefer a slicker floor for ease of movement and reduced risk of knee and other injuries when turning. I can deal with a stickier floor if I have to, by changing shoes, changing technique (e.g. many fewer turns depending on how bad it is) or even skipping dancing that day. But what is most troublesome and dangerous IMO is dancing on a floor with a mix of sticky and slick spots, from wax, moisture, or other damage.

I do think having a variety of shoes available for purchase could be very helpful for beginners, wedding couples, etc. You might consider offering some sort of discount on the shoes with purchase of lessons (X% or $X off a pair of shoes with purchase of an intro package, or with purchase of a group lesson series, etc), which might encourage newbies to purchase a pair.

If you try the rental route, please post back and let us know how that goes. It's an interesting idea. I suspect it would be a lot more challenging to implement with the ladies shoes, due to fit issues.

 

[John Urban]

I really appreciate your input As well as everyone else here! Yes, even those heel protectors dent the floor but not as much! Discounts make sense too for people in packages and group lessons. We are going to experiment with the suede heel wraps and see what they feel like. At a $1 a pair for bulk orders it’s worth just giving them away with rubber bands to help protect the floor . I’ll definitely follow up. We hope the measures we put in place make everyone more conscious so that it’s just an accepted routine.

 

[John Urban]

Around here on non-studio dance floors we have to deal with a lot of people using "dance wax." It creates a waxy buildup on the floor which is super slick, stains the floor, and gunks up shoes. When on these floors, brushing is absolutely required. I have several pairs of shoes I use just for bad floors like this. On the real studio floors where wax isn't allowed, I only rarely brush my shoes, and it's usually just to remove dust and dirt. Scruffing them on carpet works just as well for that. I've also found that a wire brush from Walmart works better than a real shoe brush, unless the shoes really need to be roughed up.

Thanks for your comment! I am learning more . We had a couple who vacationed in Vienna and the gentleman took v-waltz lessons there and was encouraged by the instructor there to use wax on his shoe. He danced on our floor at a party after he returned. What a mess! Educating is key but checking beforehand is a must. I prefer the wire brushes with sharp teeth like a pit bull so fabric pulls up . I’ve used other brushes that essentially just comb the shoe sole and do little to get the nap up but I’ve cut myself in the past reaching for my brush in my bag. This is never good before a lesson starts. My wife faints at the sight of blood! I have a good supply of bandaids and Nepsporin.

 

[j_alexandra]

One studio owner I know says that he values every scar, dent, and mark on his floors, because that means that floor has been danced on. A lot. With gusto. Others seek the eternal sunshine of the spotless floor. It's great that the world accommodates both POVs.

 

[John Urban]

I like his point of view. I want people to have fun and use the floor to their advantage too bit if there a way to lessen the impact that doesn’t sacrifice performance we should take measure to do so. We’ll have to see how the heel protectors work. I remember Mary Murphy in San Diego at Chapion Ballroom had a performer from one of her dance shows do a flamenco routine for everyone at a Showcase. He had metal heels! She valued the performance vs the floor and yet her floor was the biggest and best floor in San Diego at that time in 2002-3. Lots to consider

 

[jwlinson]

One of the local dance studios had been around for 30-40 years or so, and had a noticeable wear spot along the line of dance. I don't think it had been refinished in a long time, but it was a nice old-school (literally!) dance floor.

 

[John Urban]

We finally had our first classes this week. The shoes arrived yesterday and we spent all evening organizing the rentals on a couple of shoe racks. Thus far the women are receptive to the heel protectors and the suede stars. It’s been challenging with the guys. Fortunately I caught one student with plastic that was protruding through his heel so he went out and got his better ballroom shoes. One woman had nails visible on her Cuban heel because the suede wore off. I cut out a suede patch from a sheet I got on Amazon and applied it to both . Unfortunately one patch slid and we were unable to secure it properly. She’s interested in our rentals. We had a couple who was wearing dance sneakers with black soles tonight that unfortunately left black rubber residue streaks all over. They got past our system accidentally because we thought they understood our policy. We were able to clean off the streaks using Junkers cleaner which does not leave a residue but I was on my hands and knees for an hour. She remarked that it was more difficult to spin on our new floor vs our old floor. Lesson learned. The shoes are ready to be rented now though and we have their sizes. I’ll let you all know how this goes for everyone.

 

[John Urban]

We finally had our first classes this week. The shoes arrived yesterday and we spent all evening organizing the rentals on a couple of shoe racks. Thus far the women are receptive to the heel protectors and the suede stars. It’s been challenging with the guys. Fortunately I caught one student with plastic that was protruding through his heel so he went out and got his better ballroom shoes. One woman had nails visible on her Cuban heel because the suede wore off. I cut out a suede patch from a sheet I got on Amazon and applied it to both . Unfortunately one patch slid and we were unable to secure it properly. She’s interested in our rentals. We had a couple who was wearing dance sneakers with black soles tonight that unfortunately left black rubber residue streaks all over. They got past our system accidentally because we thought they understood our policy. We were able to clean off the streaks using Junkers cleaner which does not leave a residue but I was on my hands and knees for an hour. She remarked that it was more difficult to spin on our new floor vs our old floor. Lesson learned. The shoes are ready to be rented now though and we have their sizes. I’ll let you all know how this goes for everyone.

Well it’s been challenging but we have managed to keep our policy intact since our opening in March One thing I can say is that we have attracted a younger more receptive clientele that appreciates us and being able to see what shoes work best for them. We have a couple of different styles of open and closed for the ladies and three different styles for the men for varying widths that they can rent. Being able to use the right shoes to articulate the movement is very helpful and motivates them to continue learning from us. We still have a couple of people at parties who complain using sarcasm with my staff and myself but most others understand and appreciate their new investment or just the act of Mindful Brushing into a tray! Few things in life give me more satisfaction that seeing the transformation or the acceptance of this ritual. The policy has also given us a new vision of how we do business . For years we spent so much energy on getting more people to parties . Now we are focused less on this and more on attracting new students to take classes and private lessons. The parties have always taken so much time and energy that we rarely ever net a significant profit so we are not interested in appeasing our Party Goers who cause issues with the shoes. They don’t take lessons from us anyways nor do they refer people to our studio. Here’s hoping more people come on board with us for the new year.