slippery floors....a modern phenomenon?

[Smuterella]

I know but the Northern Soul tradition is to use talc, its been happening for years, it ain't gonna stop now!

 

[KittyT]

I know but the Northern Soul tradition is to use talc, its been happening for years, it ain't gonna stop now!

Yeah, well there's also this aspect of it:

Many people use talc after bathing or to soothe irritated or inflamed skin. What most people don't know is that there is an inextricable link between tacl and asbestos, which virtually everyone knows causes cancer. In fact, the two are virtually chemically identical.

As a consequence, talc manufacturers have played down the link, whilst doing there best to ensure that their powders contain no asbestos fibres. Unfortunately, this isn't enough.

A 1993 US National Toxicology Program report found that comsetic grade talc, even though it contained no asbestos-like fibres, caused tumours in animals. It would therefore appear that, whether asbestos-like fibres are present or not, cosmetic grade talcum powder is a carcinogen (causes cancer).

Ref: National toxicology program. "Toxicology and carcinogenesis studies of talc (GAS No 14807-96-6) in F344/N rats and B6C3F mice (inhalation studies). Technical report Series No 421, September 1993."

Talc has also been linked to several respiratory illnesses.

 

[Paisley]

If putting something on the floor is the custom at a venue, and done with management's permission, I have no objection. But if it isn't, putting powder on the floor is like pouring water on the sidewalk in front of my house in winter just because I want to skate there.

Back to the topic:

All my street shoes have rubber soles, partly for better traction, even if they didn't start out that way.

 

[Tourbillion]

I think that there were plenty of slippery wooden and marble floors in the past. When I dance on older dance floors they seem pretty slick.

Talc is much better than what a lot of dancers use here in SoCal, boric acid, which is really fast and not good for the finish. However, if you know that a dance floor is really slow you can put moleskin on the bottom of your shoes, just don't blame me when you fall on your butt.

As for shoe soles, hard leather is the fastest, but water will slow it down. You wear chromed suede for dance shoes to slow down a little bit. Rubber is usually sticky, so if you are afraid of falling rubber is your friend.

As for modern floors, I don't know that they are more slippery, but most less expensive modern shoes have rubber or plastic soles, so they should be more non-skid than the leather shoes of the past. The problem may be that you are wearing vintage leather shoes on modern floors. I have the cobbler put leather or rubber on the heels of my dance shoes or heels instead of the horrible plastic things.

 

[artful dodgette]

I pretty much always wear leather soled shoes 24/7, much as they speedily wear out! i only wear man made soles if its raining!

but i always leather or high polished resin soles for dancing in,

As for the carconogenic proporties in talc, its not like the air is saturated with it, and plus, if i didn't use everything that is carconogenic or eat burnt food, i'd live a very sad life! i want to enjoy my time here, not live forever!