How to make shoes less slippery on a fast floor?

[SwingWaltz]

Care to share your knowledge?
We have a competition on sunday on a very fast floor. Is there anyhting we can do apart from brushing?
Water doesn't last very long. Glycerol is no good once it drys up, and probably make it worse when it drys.

[ZPomeroy]

i've heard hairspray is a good one, though haven't tried it myself - it probably wouldn't last too much longer than water

Zac

[SwingWaltz]

Hairspray hardens pretty fast, and once the suede hardens, it's more slippery. I think...

[ZPomeroy]

Another thing i've seen is people gluing a thin layer of cork to the bottom of their shoes, albeit a little extreme it could work

Zac

[Rugby]

Your right, water lasts half the dance or less and hairspray isn't that great either.  I have heard some people try mineral oil and say it works well but have not done it myself.  I've thought about it but I like my shoes to have a lot more grip for latin than standard so its hard to get it right to do both.  If someone tries it let me know but like I said a few people have sworn by it.

[MusicChica]

I wouldn't go the oil route--the other dancers don't appreciate it much.

[Rugby]

   I can just picture people running behind you with kitty litter to soak up the oil slicks.  Not sure if the people put it on before going dancing so it has time to get it the suede or not.

[QPO]

Another thing i've seen is people gluing a thin layer of cork to the bottom of their shoes, albeit a little extreme it could work

Zac

I know of a few people that have done it one will be dancing this wek-end so I will be interest to see how it works.

[QPO]

We are going to Canberra  in a few weeks and they have sent the tickets and the rules and it says that people are not to use things  ie wax or things to slow down  you will be disqualified.

A few of our floors are really slippery and I am getting better at dancing on them... So hopefully I wont need to do anything to the shoes.

[SwingWaltz]

The floor at Canberra was beautiful last year! But that was last year...

[Dora-Satya Veda]

In England we always just to swipe the floor with a light coat of linseed oil every week. That way the floor has a surface that both latin and standard dancers like. I was taught by my teacher how to apply it (it is a little tricky and requires a definite skill). It was my job to sweep the floor every day and then once a week use the linseed oiled mop.

When we competed I always had two pairs of shoes with me. One pair with the normal sued sole and one pair with a rubber sole. I would then use the pair that felt the best on the floor. I would put castor oil on a new pair of shoes before I ever danced in them.

I was taught not to use a shoe brush by my teacher. I actually never saw him in a pair of dance shoes. He used normal street shoes in lessons and for lectures. He taught us to read the floor so that we knew the speed of the floor before dancing on it.

Dora-Satya Veda

[Dancerette]

I wouldn't go the oil route--the other dancers don't appreciate it much.

Unlike the application of even a small amount of wax (which other dancers really don't appreciate),  the use of a bit of oil seems to make no discernable difference to the overall dance surface; it just affects the sole of your own shoe, basically. Even then, it's not a great solution, doesn't last long.

The best solution is prevention, I guess; start with a properly maintained floor and once a nice degree of slide is obtained don't let anybody mess around with wax.

[Blue Tango]

I was taught not to use a shoe brush by my teacher.

Yeah, my pro has the same idea.  She says if you can control yourself with slick shoes you can control yourself anywhere.

[ZPomeroy]

How was the floor SW? do they use the same tile floor boards as at Crown?

Zac

[QPO]

The floor at this week-ens venue, was alright for us in the morning, but a lot of people slipped and fell which was not good, then they put so much wax on it, that if you were trying to do standard well you were stuck in the mud... must be very hard to get it right. but the floor surface was a lacquered floor of sort. I hear you are not allowed to put anything on your shoes in Canberra, if you do you will get disqualified.