Update on the sprung dance floor

As I started to write up these next few posts about the dance floor I installed I got thinking. then I went into action See my Making-A-Dream blog post "Because I asked".

In the January issue of Irish Dancing Magazine you will read about and see some pictures of the floor I installed here at our house.

In the article I say to check this blog for further details on making a sprung dance floor.

So here goes.

The first thing I did was to go on line and do some research. both on why a sprung dance floor is important and how they are constructed. I found some great information about Irish Dancing injuries on the Hullachan Pro Site. He doesn't really talk much about floors but goes into great detail about injuries. Check it out.

Next I hit the professional dance floor sites. Roscoe, Harlequin, EFS, Jubilee and the like (in the February Issue of Irish Dancing Magazine I will do a review of these flooring systems) What I found was that all of the permanent professional flooring was quite expensive a the time. Some has come down in price recently and I am anxious to finish my review of the flooring for IDM to see what I would do today if I had it all to do again.

Through my research I found that most of the flooring systems have a similar structure

Hardwood
=======
Sub-flooring
======
something springy
======
The floor you are putting it on

Pretty simple right? Well no. what hardwood do you use? What sub-floor, what Something springy? I will go into each one of these questions in a separate post. they will all be posted by January, since the article in IDM references them for " further detail " so I better get on it.

thanks for reading.

Have any of you ever put in a sprung dance floor? let me know what you did.

Peace
Joseph

A Dance Floor for my Daughters

I am a guy. So when my daughter took up Irish Dance of course it turned into a home improvement project with lots of trips to the hardware store and lots of Internet research!

We have a large studio where I do my painting and we run Celtic scrapbooking. My Daughter needed someplace to practice her hard-shoe and we didn’t want her messing up the nice hardwoods in the kitchen. So began my journey to install a dance floor in the studio. I wanted to put in some other kind of floor anyway so it wouldn’t matter if I got paint on it. So I went to the Internet and started my research.

The first think I found was that there are several types of flooring options available for dancers. I found that while lots of folks have hardwood floors what you really need if you want to protect your knees is a sprung floor. Irish Dance is one of the most percussive dance forms out there. So, I chose to go for the sprung floor. And no it isn’t because it would be cool (although it is cool).

My next few posts will be about how I chose and then installed our dance floor.

Peace
Joseph

Ode to Duct Tape

Silver grey, sticky strong
Fixer of a broken fender
You are essential to life, as water
I never thought I’d find you
On the shoes of my Daughter.

JoHanna's New Dress

In July JoHanna got the new school dress...it was not inexpensive. It is beautiful but expensive. Ok, Ok I know it really isn't expensive in the context of the other dresses she will have if she sticks with it over time. But heck it was pricey for me. Well my wife and I decided that she should have some skin in the game, so to speak, that she should have to earn the dress, more than just dancing at the level where she needs it.

Being the entrepreneurial type I thought she could do a small business to pay for it. So, it was spring. I talked with JoHanna and she was excited about the idea. we brainstormed ideas and landed on her growing kitchen herbs to sell. the investment was small (yes she used her own allowance for 'seed money'), seeds and dirt, we have a master gardener next door who has tons of pots. so seemed like a good idea. Well we planted them in a little green house in the closet with grow lamps on them and they did sprout. but it took forever! they never really did get to be a good size. Eventually we repotted them and moved them outside. Just the other day I was looking at them and thinking... humm maybe she could sell them after all. They would be winter plants for indoors not spring plants but hey she could sell them. I think I will talk with her this weekend about picking up the business again.

Anyone want to buy some parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregno, or cat nip?

Peace

Joseph

Confession #1

Ok I confess. I did my daughter's hair for the first 4 feisianna. By the end I was doing about 250 curlers in her hair. it took about 2 hours to put them all in and...well...I miss doing it, it was really fun. Now she has a bananna clip wig. I am still in charge of putting in the wig (my wife braides her hair first I just don't have french braids down).


But I miss the curlers. But there is hope! My 5 year old just started dancing and she will do curlers to begin with, and we ahve another little girl who will start...well in a few years she is only 3 months old :-)

I am a feis dad

I am a feis dad. My daughter has been dancing Irish Dance for nearly two years now and she is fantastic, and I am not biased....well ok I am.

Here she is at her first Feis

Oh come on, we all took pictures of them dancing at their First Feis. I don't anymore, just lots of candids.

got pictures to share please. share away.




Peace
Joseph

Hi, My name is Joseph and I am a Feis Dad

And everyone said, "Hi, Joseph"