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Has any one on the list had complaints from hall keepers about slip stop supplied from the RSCDS damaging the surface of floors?
For one of our children's classes we use a school hall which has a wooden parquet floor. The school janitor assures me that it is not polished, but has been specially treated to be non-slippy. However, it has the appearance of having a very high gloss, and is certainly not non-slipply, especially with ordinary dancing pumps. At our last class, the children, and my helper who is a very experienced dancer, were having a lot of problems, so I used my slip stop on the floor, only to be given a severe telling off by the school janitor. This morning, I've had the Branch Secy on the phone saying that she has been told by the School Lets Office that slip stop damages the surface of the floor. I'd be interested to hear whether anyone else has had this problem, and if you have, what you do instead.
My, my, that's a can of worms, I know groups that have been BANNED from halls because of the white powder...
There is an alternative product made of rubber "dust," like the bags of rubber eraser dust draftsmen use. In fact, that's what we used to use; we would tear a hole in the corner of the bag and just let a bit out. It doesn't damage the floor or stick to your shoes, as I recall.
Now I have a pair of normal shoes, and a pair treated with the Dow Corning silicon RTV 3140, for use on slippery floors.
We also use the draftsmans eraser dust. I get it at an art supply house. It comes in a bag or a can, but the bag was slightly cheaper per oz. We use it on specific slippery spots and find it doesn't clog up your shoes like rosin. If someone feels a slippery spot they call for the "fairy dust"
I find that about a tablespoon of powdered resin dispensed with a tea strainer will effectively stop slipping on about 2000 sq ft (200 m2) and the janitors don't notice it afterwards. Unfortunately, crushing solid resin does not produce a fine enough powder and is much more expensive than the (less available) commercially powdered product.
We used to buy it from a local (Ottawa, Canada) dance supply store (Malabars), but they now say there is not sufficient demand and have discontinued the powdered resin. So now we crush up pieces of solid resin a bit and then put it in an electric coffee grinder which achieves the prerequisite fineness. (Yes, you can clean the grinder completely.) The solid resin is used for violin strings, so I assume you can get it at most music stores. We keep the powder in a small plastic zip lock bag in our SCD basket.
Dispersal on the floor is done with a VERY finely meshed tea strainer by tapping the edge of the strainer. As I mentioned before, a tablespoon is sufficient for a floor for six sets. Don't use more or you will really STOP the slipping. Swishing around with a broom also helps distribute the powder if your application was spotty. The result is not visible to dancers or janitors.
Mop down with a mixture of metholated spirits and water; we recently got a new wooden floor in our hall, and when really clean it is not slippy, but often gets that way; the advice came from the installers.
Alternatively, wet the soles of your shoes - our dancers tend to do this automatically for dances like St Andrews Day or the Vicar of Bray!
My experience has been that the anti-slip-stop people are NEVER DANCERS. they are janitors who want the floor to "look nice" or administrators who have the same aim.
The most beautiful floor in the world is an unfinished wooden one that has been worn smooth, but not slippery, by thousands of happy dancing feet.
We dance at an enlightened church rec hall, and use rosin regularly, but we sweep it up afterward. we also put down small carpet remnants at the exit to the dance hall and ask people to wipe their ghillies, to avoid tracking the white stuff around. We also give the janitress a gift at Christmas.
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Last modified 8-10-02
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