From the Histoty of Ballroom Dancing.
A more sedate form of the V. Waltz was danced at 90 beats per minute, evolved in America about 1834 and was originaly known as the Boston. The Boston has the distinction of being the first Ballroom Dance to be done with the feet parallel rather than turned out in Ballet. The present form of the dance was derived around 1910 in England. Strausse wrote the song The Blue Danube in 1867.
Just for the record the demonstration of the Viennese Waltz I saw in Vienna was a distant cousin to the one I know.

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"A more sedate form of the V. Waltz was danced at 90 beats per minute, evolved in America about 1834 and was originaly known as the Boston."

Some would argue that the Boston is the origin of the modern ballroom slow waltz.

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Help on hardwood dance floors!

I am ripping up my carpet in my house's great room to install a hardwood dance floor. Their are so many choices in wood flooring with solid, manufactured, engineered, strip, various types of wood, bamboo, locking, nail down, floating, etc... Does anyone have any good advice to give me. I do ballroom, swing and country dances and learning more. It will not be a studio but just a place to socialize and practice at home (24' x 12' in size).

Thanks in advance!

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Simply put.. a " driving " walk , is "body " driven by placing the feet ( foot ) under the body fairly quickly

A " stepping walk ", is when the feet( foot ) is moved fwd and or back with a reaching motion and the body is delayed .

By the way.. do NOT try to make comparisons with any other form of tango.

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Ralph, I've noticed that several studios have installed Pergo (qv) floors. It's a type of laminate which is relatively inexpensive and holds up fairly well under the stress of dancing.

A hardwood floor is ideal but it must be installed correctly for dancing and, even worse, it must be maintained. Accordlingly, hardwood floors are very expensive.

If your house is built on a slab then you must use engineered hardwood instead of solid.

jj

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"If your house is built on a slab then you must use engineered hardwood instead of solid."

This is not really relevant. You simply should not put dance flooring of any sort directly on a concrete slab, as it will be "dead" with no give to it.

Real wood in addition needs sufficient ventilation underneath to prevent the accumulation of moisture, but then so do some of the cheaper "engineered" materials which can experience glue failure.

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Ralph

I had about the same situation with a Room about 18 X 26.
I went with a Master Portable Dance floor as it has its own spring built into it and that way I can remove if I ever move. While it cost more then installing a hardwood floor it provided better options in the long run.
It cost about $10 per square foot at the time I bought it compared to around $4:00 per square foot for hardwood.
Based on your room size you could do a Maple plywood floor for fairly reasonable $

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"This is not really relevant. You simply should not put dance flooring of any sort directly on a concrete slab, as it will be "dead" with no give to it."

Please show me where I claimed that you could do so.

Engineered hardwood is built with moistureproof outer layers. Also, no floor is installed on a concrete slab until the slab has dried sufficiently to eliminate most moisture problems.

Every studio in which I have seen Pergo or some other laminate used for flooring sits on a concrete slab with padding between the floor and the slab.

Even if Ralph is going to install the floor himself, all flooring vendors provide plenty of literature which explains proper installation. They don't want people to be unhappy with their product.

jj

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"Every studio in which I have seen Pergo or some other laminate used for flooring sits on a concrete slab with padding between the floor and the slab."

Since you aren't putting it directly on the concrete, you are not limited to engineered materials but can instead take the appropriate steps to use real wood.

Personally, if you are dancing on a man made surface anyway, you might want to consider regular commercial floor tiles rather than fake wood.

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These postings made me wonder about the various dance studios at which people train, teach or take lessons.
I have never been in a studio in which the dance floor was built atop concrete. They have all been on the second floors of buildings for that reason, so as not to be on concrete foundation. But I am certain they do exist, and maybe only the professionals, using it over the long haul, would notice a difference in how their legs were reacting to the surface.
Our studio also went with the Pergo surface not long ago, mostly because it is viewed as advantageous for the ballet and hip hop students who are pounding their knees far more than Fox Trot students. It is also less expensive to maintain. I didn't like it as much as the hardwood floor at first, but I have gotten used to it.
This post was interesting to me, as I too am tearing up my thin carpeting with practice and lessons I give out of my home.

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"I have never been in a studio in which the dance floor was built atop concrete. They have all been on the second floors of buildings for that reason, so as not to be on concrete foundation."

I've been in at least two built on slabs, but they were built/converted by knowledgeable dancers who used a complete flooring system - not just boards on concrete, but something to provide a moisture barrier and compliance under the boards.

Often if the room is very large and the dance floor does not cover all of it, there will be a step up of several cm to get from the surrounding building floor onto the dance floor. Some of today's clip-based systems are even compatible with rented space as you can take the floor apart into component boards and save almost all of them to reinstall elsewhere. The floor isn't actually nailed down, it just sits there, a cm or two smaller than the room if it goes to the walls to allow for expansion.

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http://www.sprungfloors.com/

This was just the first in a search. Sprung floors is the way to go if you want a quality "dance" floor.

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You can provide a semi-sprung surface for quite modest cost, even over a concrete base.

You need a damp proof layer first (or a completely dry concrete slab which incorporates a damp-proof layer already).

Lay two thicknesses of good quality rubber carpet underlay, and over that a thin layer of plywood or hardboard. Over that, fit inexpensive click-together laminate flooring. The purpose of the plywood/hardboard layer is to spread the load at the laminate joins, so that the rubber underlay gives the floor "spring", without any risk of the floor flexing at the joins (particularly under the weight of a lady's heel. The whole "sandwich" is not too thick, and it doesn't need any permanent fixing, so you can take it up again if you move, or want to renew the rubber underlay.

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Augusto Schiavo former World and British Amateur and Professional Champion was invited to deliver a lecture at the IDSF Congress to be held in California.Two days before the event he was uninvited. His crime was he adjudicated an event which was not sactioned by the IDSF.
Are the IDSF ruining our dance world. Do they have the right to dictate who we can and cannot work for ??
All of the above is reported on Dancesport UK along with a lot of other strong reports and comments.
The tactics being used after the court case in Holland is to pressure the different affiliated Societies to do their dirty work. If any of this appears to be not correct please criticize

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Just added a floor in my (32x32) garage.

Over the dried clean concrete place a moisture barrier as recommended by most if not all floor manufactures.

Lay 1 or 2 (your pref) layers of the foam cork flooring used in condos to reduce noise and vibration.

Cover with the floor of your choice.
I agree the real wood could be costly and require alot of care. I went with the snap together laminate- looks and feels GREAT!

Good Luck, let me know if you want some pics.

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I wanted to know what you think about a ladies ocho in dancing the tango. Is there a differnce or reason for lifting the leg higher, or keeping the landing tight at the ankles, or keeping the leg together and sweeping the floor with the toes to form

There is definitely a reason! What you are addressing are forms of style or adornment, and these are options that may be taken by the follow, or may at times be led.

An ocho is, for lack of a better way of describing it, a swivel. (If we want to be VERY technical here, that is loving called a "quatro," as it does take two to form that little 8 pattern on the floor, though one "quatro" does not mean another "quatro" must follow.) To execute a basic proper Argentine tango ocho you bring your ankles together (with weight still on the supporting foot) and rotate. The lady has options of embellishment for her free leg. She may flick, she may point, etc. In crowded social situations, the lady may opt to make a small beat at her ankle, or may opt for no embellishment at all. (Larger flicks, or boleos, may injure others if dancing on a crowded floor.)

To make a large fan, typically, the man leads this by lowering the lady. Her knees are now soft and she has the ability, or the room, to extend her free leg to create fan. If the lady is kept "up" by the man she will typically not make a large fan, but opt for a simple ocho or other embellishment, and these other embellishments do include the option of trailing the foot behind in a fan-like fashion. You may have noticed in your American that it is at times difficult to create fan, and this would be because the lead is keeping you "up."

I hope this helps.

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Is it not true, that... the larger problem with T/A is its diversity of opinion ?.Looking for an opinion from others in the genre .( am curious, as a teacher )

salsa has the same problems .

The old "chestnut" to formalise or not, may each have their respective advantages. I do concede, however , that the free flow of ideas should always be welcome .

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Thank you very much for your help. My partner and I start with the Nat. spin turn ended backing diag.centre, then dance 4-6 of Reverse turn ended facing LOD into a Closed Telemark ended facing diag. wall, followed by a RF Closed change OP turned ¼ to the right into a Whisk turned ¼ to the left into a Chasse from PP.
We recently moved to another town and our new dance teacher disagrees with this part of our Waltz routine. She says that 1. the Closed Telemark should start facing diag. centre and turn less (1/4) and when I dance it this way, I really feel more comfortable and we don't finish side by side; 2. there is no turn on the Closed change and it shouldn't be danced OP.
I would very much appreciate your opinion.

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First.. I would not suggest commencing a basic sequence with a spin turn ( at a corner or LOD ). You have essentially created a " stationary " figure when your objective should be " flight ".
Use variations that are going to move you down the LOD either thru the use of Nat and Rev turns and or standard whisks and chasses. A DR spin needs to be included .

The closed tele. leaves too much room for error .

The key to your level of comp. is good clean footwork and variations that are rhythmical and on time .

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having personally installed more dance floors than I care to remember, even for the purpose you are stating.

I have worked in studios, many times , with " artificial" flooring. This material was NEVER designed for dance use. It is often used for economic reasons , and I can tell you from 1st hand experience, no matter the care, it WILL detereorate eventually.

The investment in wood does 2 things.. both important.. 1.. great surface on which to dance ..2.. add value to the room and the house .

Sprung floors are relatively easy to instal .The choice of hard wood is as much about cost, as it is about longevity . Most woods will outlive all of us if properly treated .Maple and oak would top my list .

Do NOT put polyurethane on the finished floor. A good parafin wax is all that it needs .
Go to a lumber yard for material NOT to a DYI or chain outlet.. you will get a better price for volume .( and advice )

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