Tap Dance Products

The three S’s of tap dancing are sound, safety and sturdiness. Tappers need a dance floor that provides the signature tapping sound along with proper impact absorption to protect their bodies. As such, it’s often difficult to find a good place to dance at home due to space limitations and ineffective flooring like carpet, tile and cement. 

Having the proper surface to tap on is not a luxury — it’s a necessity to protect your home, tap shoes and body. Stagestep offers a wide assortment of tap dance products and temporary dance floor options to help you dance at home.

Portable Tap Boards

Portable tap boards are a great option to improve your home tap experience. These mini dance floors feature a specialized Timestep floor surface over a 5/8-inch wood layer and a base of 3/4-inch high-density foam shock layer. Together these layers form a totally independent floating subfloor system.

You can use your portable tap board over virtually any floor type or surface, including hardwood, concrete or carpet. The open space underneath the board delivers excellent natural amplification for tapping sounds. 

Stagestep offers two different sizes of tap board designed to fit the needs of your home dance space. Ourlarge tap board measures 4 feet by 3 feet, while our small tap board is slightly narrower at 4 feet by 2 feet. Both versions are portable, lightweight and small enough to store in a closet, under a bed or in the trunk of your car. 

Roll-Up Tap Mats

Roll-up tap dance mats are another easy option for creating a safe, temporary at-home tap dance surface. To use a tap dance mat for home dancing, you unroll it over your existing floor and start dancing right away. Most portable dance mats are made of hardwood planks or vinyl flooring. 

Stagestep offers two different options for portable dance mats — wooden tap mats or tap in a tube.

Tap Mat

Stagestep’s woodenroll-up tap mat features a solid bamboo slatted floor with beveled edges that rolls up tightly for storage. The bamboo hardwood provides great tap sound, long-lasting durability and easy maintenance. 

Select the best size for your dance space from two available options — the Professional wooden tap mat is 4 feet by 6 feet and weighs about 20 pounds, while the smaller Student mat measures 3 1/2 feet by 4 feet and weighs 10 pounds. 

Tap in a Tube

The Tap in a Tube portable tap dance mat is made of professional, multipurpose Timestep vinyl practice flooring. It comes in a kit that includes a convenient storage tube and a roll of tape. To use Tap in a Tube, you just roll it out and use the tape to hold down the corners of the mat. Rolled flat, the mat forms a 4 foot by 6 1/2 foot practice area for tapping.

This attractive marbleized grey mat works to protect your floors and your body while providing the ultimate portable tap dance mat experience.

FAQ

Stagestep’s dance experts have more than 50 years of experience working with dance floors of all types. The staff is uniquely qualified to answer any of your questions regarding tap dance flooring and products.

Do Tap Shoes Ruin Hardwood Floors?

Tap shoes could potentially damage your hardwood floors. Most tap shoes are designed to avoid damaging floors, but tap dancing can still leave unavoidable marks and scratches. Poorly fitted tap plates and uneven screws can even gouge chunks out of softer wood floors. 

Hardwoods like maple and oak stand up better than softwoods like pine. The extent of the damage will depend on the taps, the wood floor and how long you dance.

While specialized hardwood floors can be ideal for tap dancing, you’ll probably want to avoid tapping on your beautifully varnished living room floor.

Will Concrete Ruin Tap Shoes?

Yes, attempting to tap dance on concrete will absolutely ruin your tap shoes. Taps are made of soft metal that can be easily scraped, warped or pitted by surfaces that are too hard or rough. Damage like this can change the taps’ sound and cause future damage to other dance floors.

Tap dancing on concrete can also damage your body. Concrete surfaces don’t provide any shock absorption, so you are susceptible to foot, ankle, knee and leg injuries like stress fractures and shin splints. Consider purchasing a portable tap dance floor to place over your concrete flooring to provide a safer option for you and your tap shoes. 

Should I DIY My Tap Board?

The short answer? Probably not.

While some DIY projects can save you money, building your own tap dance board is not one of them. The amount of time and resources you would invest in creating a professional-style tap board is about the same as the money it takes to just go online and order a pre-made tap board. 

Dancing on DIY tap boards can also lead to major injuries like shin splints, joint damage and stress fractures because they typically lack proper impact protection. Additionally, repeated use will damage the surface of your homemade board over time and could result in dangerous splintering.

To protect yourself, it’s important to invest in the surface you dance on. Professionally made tap boards are designed to withstand heavy use and protect dancers by providing shock absorption and proper surface finishing. Stagestep offers several professional options that will provide a safe tap-dancing surface at a highly competitive price.

What Are Tap Boards Made Of?

Generally, professional tap boards are made with a layer of thick wood over foam cushioning. Some include a laminate or topcoat to protect the wood from damage.

Stagestep tap boards are made of three layers — 5/8″ thick wood, a Timestep laminated tap surface and a high-density crosslink cell foam shock layer. These layers work together to create a mini floating subfloor system designed to protect you, your taps and your other floor surfaces.

I’m Wanting a Dance Floor That Suits Tap. Which Tap Floor Should I Get?

You’ll need to consider a number of factors before you pick out a tap floor, including how permanent the floor will be, what kind of space you have and if you plan to use your floor for anything other than tap. Stagestep typically recommends Timestep, Timestep T, Super Bravo Pro or Encore Home flooring systems for tap dancing. 

You can use Stagestep’s online guide to determine which dance floor is right for you.