Choosing the right outdoor dance floor sounds like a simple decision until twenty people start dancing at the same time and the ground underneath decides to join the party.
Over the years we have seen beautiful backyard setups turn into awkward, slippery, muddy messes because the dance floor was treated as an afterthought.
The good news is that you don’t have to go through the same as there are several practical dance floor options that you can go for and make your event fun and comfortable for everyone.
These options include:
Plywood
The beauty is that plywood is cheap to rent from staging and dance floor rentals. Unfortunately, it becomes a warped, splintery nightmare by the third dance.
If you place it directly on grass, the plywood absorbs moisture from the grass and swells unevenly within hours of setup.
We once delivered plywood to a wedding in June, and by the time the toasts wrapped up three hours later, the boards were already buckling in the middle.
The bride’s heel caught on the warped edge and she nearly went down mid-first dance.
If you don’t mind these issues and you are set on renting the dance floor, you should place a plastic sheeting underneath which costs extra.
Interlocking plastic tiles
Unlike plywood, interlocking plastic dance tiles don’t absorb water, they distribute weight evenly, and they’re nearly impossible to damage from a single night of dancing.
The tiles click together like a massive puzzle, so you get a completely stable surface even on uneven ground.
Your high heels won’t catch, your knees won’t feel the shock of dancing on concrete, and cleanup takes just a few minutes.
These tiles come in neutral colors that photograph well for all your Instagram posts.
For the clients who aren’t specific on color, we recommend black or gray dance tiles as they work with every aesthetic.
Concrete
When you don’t want to spend money renting a dance floor, your driveway sounds like a great idea because it’s already there.
While this is the case, you should note that concrete is unforgiving to the feet and knees over a full night of dancing. By hour three, everyone’s feet hurt, and half the party is sitting down.
Concrete doesn’t give at all, which means your whole body absorbs every impact.
Those in heels feel it in their lower back by the end of the night and guests without proper dance shoes are limping by dessert.
Instead of letting your guests dance on bare concrete, rent a padded flooring and place it on top of the concrete.
It’s an extra expense, but it makes the difference between guests enjoying the dancing and guests avoiding the dance floor entirely.
Sand and gravel
Sand feels great underfoot, which is why it seems perfect for an outdoor party. But sand gets kicked around, gets into shoes, and ends up in everyone’s car, house, and laundry even weeks after the party.
Gravel is worse as its loud to walk on, it moves around under dancers’ feet, and it’s basically doing the opposite of what you want from a dance floor.
Poolside dance floor
Dancing next to a pool and not thinking about water splashing onto the floor is setting up for a slipping catastrophe.
We have seen guests slip, and it only takes one person going down hard for the evening to shift from celebration to concern mode.
If your floor is right next to water, get a textured or grip-backed surface. Avoid standard smooth plastic tiles as they become treacherous when wet, and guests will naturally avoid the dance floor if they sense it’s slippery.
Better yet, set your dance floor back from the pool edge by at least six feet.
Dancing guests will naturally gravitate away from the water anyway, and you’ll avoid the whole slipping problem.
Best practices when using the dance floor
When you rent a dance floor, it doesn’t mean that you only need to install it and your guests will automatically have a time of their lives. You need to do a number of other things that include:
Protect it from the rain
If you are having your event outside in summer or early fall, you should know that your dance floor is at the risk of being damaged by rain water.
In such a situation you should get a sealed dance floor that can handle a light rain without any issues.
To protect your dance floor, you should ensure that the surface is sloped slightly, even just 1/8 inch per foot of length, so water runs off and doesn’t collect in low spots.
In our rental company we usually build this in, but if you’re cobbling it together yourself, this is a critical detail to pay attention to.
Watch out for the edges
A dance floor with a sharp or raised edge is a twisted ankle waiting to happen.
You should ensure that your edges have a beveled trim or a gentle slope downward, and they should be clearly visible, especially at night.
If you’re dancing at dusk or evening, the floor should be lit well enough that people can see where it ends.
Avoid placing the dance floor on uneven ground
Your backyard might look level to the eye, but most yards slope or have subtle dips and high spots.
A dance floor on uneven ground will flex and shift underneath dancers, and it feels unstable even if it is safe.
We use a level before any outdoor floor installation, and we have found that most backyards need some ground preparations.
Filling in low spots with sand or compacted dirt takes a couple of hours but makes an enormous difference in how the floor feels.
If your lawn is visibly sloped, rent a floor that can flex with the uneven ground, or do ground work first.
Parting shot
Your outdoor dance floor is temporary, but the evening you’re creating is permanent.
Guests will remember whether they danced, whether their feet hurt, whether they felt safe, and whether they actually had fun on that floor.
Every dollar you spend on proper flooring is money spent on making those memories better. Do it right, and people will be talking about how great that party was for years.
As a rule of thumb rent your dance floor from event rentals Rockland who will not only rent you the right dance floor, but also advise you on proper installation that will ensure that your guests have the best time of their lives.