Dance Daze, Inc. The Happy Dance

5 Reasons Why You Might Need A Dance Daze Dance Board

As business owners, we love creating high quality products that solve problems for our clients.

At Dance Daze Dance Boards, we work to support the work of recreational and pre-professional dancers. This means that we design our portable dance floors in consideration of what recreational children and adult dancers and pre-professional dancers between the ages of 9 and 18 might need when in terms of practicing, supplemental training, creating influencer content, traveling for different dance opportunities/experiences, and more.

If you are a recreational or pre-professional dancer, keep reading to learn about why you might need a Dance Daze Dance Board in your life.

You participate in virtual dance classes via Zoom, Instagram, TikTok, and more

While some of our clients were already participating in virtual dance classes before 2020, a lot of our DDDB family began dancing at home after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many fantastic programs launched in 2020 that were completely virtual, including those that were only temporarily virtual and those that began as online programs and will remain as online programs so that they can serve a wider audience all over the world.

Personally, I’ve lived in a variety of spaces including college dorm rooms (both in the United States and abroad!), simple apartments and luxury apartments, and homes in both rural and urban areas. So I know that the space we have in our living areas can vary! Some years, we may be able to grand jeté across a huge backyard and in other seasons of life, we may be fearful of scraping our elbows if we attempt a pirouette turn in our living room.

With differences in living spaces in mind, Dance Daze Dance Boards come in a variety of sizes, that we hope will be helpful and meet the needs of dancers practicing at home, whether they have a small space or a large space in which to practice dance.

For those with limited space — perhaps in a small bedroom or in a section of a shared college dorm room — we have our Jet Setter dance board. At just 23 inches in diameter, this board can be used to practice non-locomotor movements, simple jumps, and long and short tap dance combinations as well.

Additionally, our Jet Setter can be easily stored in the trunk or backseat of a car, under a bed, or in a closet. Beginning this year (2022), our Jet Setter dance board comes with an adorable carrying tote so that this board can be easily taken on trips. And, there is even enough room in the bag to add some extra dance clothes, tights, leotards, and a makeup bag too, if you’re heading to a dance convention or dance competition!

You travel for dance competitions and dance conventions

If you’re someone who travels for dancing — whether you attend dance conventions in order to learn from the best dance teachers and to about the latest dance products, if you’re a dance educator who attends arts education seminars in different cities or in different states, or if you’re an adult ballet dancer who goes to summer intensives designed just for adults in different cities across the U.S. and abroad — we believe a Dance Daze Dance Board will fit your life style!

You regularly create dance content, both inside your home and outdoors

Another trend that became huge in 2020 was creating content on platforms such as Instagram Reels and TikTok!

Whether you’re someone who creates aspirational or educational dance content, likes trying out the latest TikTok dance moves, or enjoys goofing off making content with your friends and family, you can probably use a Dance Daze Dance Board in your videos!

I personally love using my Dance Daze Dance Board when I’m creating educational ballet and tap content, when I’m showing off some original choreography, or when I’m taking a popular trend and “making it ballet” or adding a tap dance twist to it.

I also love having 2-3 boards with me when I’m outside so that I can use one board to hold my iPhone tripod, one board to step on/sit and put on my dance shoes, and one board for posing for photos! Dance Daze Dance Boards are great for dance photography as well. And, your dance photos you take with your Dance Daze Dance Boards are perfect for seasonal or end-of-year time-lapse videos!

You like practicing new combinations outside of the studio

When I was training as a pre-professional dancer (and even now, any time I pop in for an adult class of any kind!), I loved going home and practicing what I’d learned in class.

Now, as a child who was also a competitive tap dancer (before I began my pre-professional classical ballet training), this could be slightly problematic when I thought the best place to tap dance in the house was on the kitchen floor.

With a Dance Daze Dance Board, I’m able to practice a variety of styles of dance in my home without ruining any floors! This is another way our dance boards serve both children and adults who are dancing at home.

You enjoy creating your own choreography at home

One of the main ways I maintained my sanity during 2020 was creating, creating, creating. I spent most of my shower time making up tap dance combinations or thinking about what songs I wanted to use for my weekly “Monday Funday” Instagram Live Ballet Barre class that I taught on Monday evenings for most of that year.

Additionally, I spent about 3 hours per week recording content for an online dance program for children.

As a dance educator, creating choreography and warmup combinations for children and adults, a Dance Daze Dance Board can be perfect. Using a Dance Daze Dance Board can remind us of the small space in which our students may be dancing at home. Additionally, it can remind us of the myriad ways in which we can use our bodies to make BIG movements and shapes, even when we are confined to a small space.

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If you have a Dance Daze Dance Board, how has it helped solve problems for you? Let us know in a comment, email us at info@dancedaze.org, or text co-founder Saumirah at 916-378-1952.

Dance Daze, Inc. The Happy Dance

Spotlighting Our 2021 Best Seller: The Jet Setter Dance Board

https://www.instagram.com/missmcwoodson/

Our smallest dance board and our best-selling dance board in 2021 is The Jet Setter. We designed this board because we wanted an extremely portable, affordable dance board that recreational and pre-professional dancers could use to practice their technique at home or on-the-go.

Co-founder Saumirah discovered that, though it is only 23 inches in diameter, the Jet Setter is still perfect for practicing tap dance combinations (it really forces you to dance with your feet underneath you!), non-traveling pointe exercises, and even pirouette turns if you’re already a somewhat strong turner (otherwise, you may fall off of the board, so be prepared for that!).

https://www.instagram.com/balletgisselle/ (Gisselle is posing on her Manhattan Dance Daze Dance Board in this photo, but it’s such a great snow photo, that we had to add it to this post about Jet Setters! ;)

Some of our DDDB Brand Ambassadors (search for the hashtag #DDDBambassador across social platforms!) have shown us that they really DO use their Jet Setter in ways that we intended and beyond! Meaning, we’ve seen Jet Setter Dance Daze Dance Boards in college dorms, in front of coffee shops, acting as a solid platform in the middle of a field covered in snow, and more! Basically, our Brand Ambassadors are truly the jet setters that we imagined they would be!

With that in mind, but also with the knowledge that we’re still a small family-owned business, we wanted to create a way to make it easier for our community to carry around their Jet Setter dance boards. We didn’t want to cut a space for a handle in the board itself because we didn’t want there to be any less space on an already small platform or to break up the smooth surface for tap dancing and pointe work that our Jet Setter dance board provides. Additionally, we didn’t want to add a piece of fabric for a handle that might not be secure enough with glue alone. And, we didn’t want to ruin our beautiful Jet Setter boards by sticking nails through the wood in order to secure a handle to the back side.

Therefore, at the end of 2021, we decided that we’d begin selling all Jet Setter dance boards with a simple tote bag *included in the regular price, at no additional charge*!

https://www.tiktok.com/@saras_travellingtaps

So, beginning in January of 2022, all Jet Setter Dance Daze Dance Boards purchased will not only come with foam padding at the bottom to create a sprung board (oh yeah, that’s another change we made to Dance Daze Dance Boards this year — ALL of our dance boards are now sprung floors!), but they will also come with a carrying tote! We are so excited to make it even easier for you to carry around your Jet Setter dance board, whether you’re bringing it on a road trip, to the park, to a friend’s house, to a dance convention, and more!

We can’t wait to see where you’re dancing next on your Dance Daze Dance Board. Remember to share your photos and videos with us with the hashtags #DanceDazeDanceBoards #DancingColorfully and #DanceWellDoGood!

Let’s chat again soon, friend!

Dance Daze, Inc. The Happy Dance

5 Ways Dance Daze Dance Boards Can Support Your Goals for the New Year

If you follow me (Dance Daze Dance Boards Co-founder Saumirah McWoodson) online, you may have heard me say before that I’m not the biggest fan of setting new year resolutions for myself. I am more the kind of person to focus on one or a few words for the year (i.e., in the past, one of my words was “community”), and I feel that this really helps to guide my focus on what experiences I create for myself, what I say “yes” to, and what I say “no” to.

So far, I haven’t yet picked my words or specific intentions for the year, but I am focusing on the ideas of moving, creating, and getting out into nature more. Additionally, I’m playing with ideas around shared community — designing and participating in fantastic experiences with others, so that my focus on community will not just be for myself, but so that I’d also be focusing on creating and enjoying with others who are part of that community. (If that makes any sense!)

In any case, perhaps you, too, have some goals around movement, dance, and creating. If so, I wanted to give some suggestions for how Dance Daze Dance Boards might support you in being successful with your intentions for the new year!

365 Days of Movement

In 2021 and definitely in 2020, I saw many people who used social media to share a 365-day dance journey or movement journey. These sort of projects ranged from ballet combinations in home studios to simply twirling around in nature for a few seconds, but the intent was the same: moving, in some way, every single day.

Whether you’re wearing your pointe shoes for 10 minutes per day, participating in a YouTube dance class, or making beats with your tap shoes, your Dance Daze Dance Board can support your goal of moving every day.

Practicing At Home

Life looks a lot different from when I was a child (as it should!), but something I remember about my childhood is that my dance teachers would often recommend that we practice combinations, stretch, or even visualize performing at home.

If you’re reading this post, you’re likely someone who took up dancing at home more frequently during 2020, as did I, but maybe that’s worn off for you as things begin to open up despite the ongoing struggles of Covid-19.

If you have a goal of practicing your dance technique at home so that you’re more prepared and feel more confident when you have time in the studio or during your virtual dance classes, your Dance Daze Dance Board can be there to help you practice when you’re not in class.

Self Care

If you’re the kind of person who loves a long hot bath, giving yourself a facial, painting your. nails or going for a pedicure, or reading a book while listening to light piano music, that’s all great for self care. But if you’re someone who needs something a little different than what is often thought of as “self care,” you might be able to use your Dance Daze Dance Board as part of your “me time” routine this year.

With your Dance Daze Dance Board, not only can you create a special place for dancing in your home, but you can also feel comfortable with establishing a regular routine. This regular self care routine which includes your Dance Daze Dance Board will give you time to focus on movement and how your body feels when moving, create choreography, and free your mind from the stressors of every day life and responsibility.

Exercise At Home

Dance is an art form, but it is obviously an art form that requires a lot of physical strength and endurance! In addition to a variety of dance classes, I have personally seen many dance fitness classes, that are available via Zoom or on YouTube, pop up over the past 2 years.

If you’re looking for an alternative way of getting in some exercising at home, consider incorporating dancing and your Dance Daze Dance Board into your home workout routine!

Develop A Creative Practice

“What’s a creative practice?” you may ask. According to Google, a creative practice is the intentional practice of learning, mastering, and using the artistic, intellectual, and technical skills to develop creative rituals and habits.

Your creative practice might focus on dance, on movement in general, on making/creating (e.g., choreography or percussive music through clapping and/or tap dancing). You might focus on regularly challenging yourself to make something new or to explain an idea nonverbally. There are many different ways to delve into a creative practice, but I believe that if any of the above will be part of yours, a Dance Daze Dance Board will support you in your creative goals.

I hope your new year is off to a great start, friend!

Dance Daze, Inc. The Happy Dance

All Sprung Dance Boards Coming January 2022!

At Dance Daze Dance Boards, we pride ourselves on being a company that celebrates color, diversity, and doing good for the world. One of the ways in which we try to embody our motto of #DanceWellDoGood is by using sustainable materials in our products that will both support your dancing and also improve or do no harm to the earth.

Since January of 2021, we have only used FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified wood for each dance board that we cut, paint, and ship to our customers. Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, The Forest Stewardship Council is an international non-profit organization that promotes responsible management of forests all over the world. In using FSC Certified wood, Dance Daze Dance Boards is supporting the protection of indigenous lands, ensuring that the wood we use is harvested from sustainably-managed forests, and only using harvesting lumber with trees will be replaced or allowed to regenerate naturally.

We are happy to announce that in January of 2022, Dance Daze Dance Boards will continue to create more sustainable products and products that support your dance training by making all of our boards with sprung floors!

A sprung floor is considered the best kind of platform for both dancing and athletic training, as sprung floors help to enhance performance and reduce injuries. Sprung floors are created with a foam or rubber bottom or backing, which absorbs shock and provides a bit of movement (or “give”) in the performance surface. While un-sprung floors can put more stress on the joints and muscles when dancing, sprung floors help to return energy to the feet, joints, and muscles, when dancing or jumping, helping to reduce fatigue and therefore to reduce the chances of injury.

In addition to the above, the foam bottom that we use for Dance Daze Dance Boards provides a slight bounce, reduces fatigue, and provides traction for using your dance board indoors our outdoors.

While our skid-resistant dance boards are great, we want to provide the highest quality products possible to support your dance training, and we believe that sprung floors do this!

Over time, we hope to replace the current foam that we are using with FSC Certified natural rubber, which will further support the protection of forest ecosystems, including the plants and animals that inhabit them, and ensure safe and fair working conditions for the people who harvest the rubber.

Dance Daze, Inc. The Happy Dance

How to Use Dance Daze Dance Boards

While there are so many ways to use Dance Daze Dance Boards, our co-founder Saumirah McWoodson loves using them most for doing outdoor ballet barre classes and for learning tap dance combinations from YouTube!

Throughout 2020 and 2021, Saumirah says that using her Dance Daze Dance Boards helped her to establish consistent practice routines, improve her ballet technique, and to develop her own creative practice.

While Saumirah is most experienced in classical ballet and tap–as those are the styles of dance she began studying as a child and continued practicing and training in through her adult years–those who practice other styles of dance love using Dance Daze Dance Boards as well.

Dance Daze Dance Boards can be used for practicing balancing, turns, and non-locomotor movements in any style of dance. Our boards are also great for building a home dance studio, to include as a fun prop in dance photo shoots or video shoots, and even for creating a simple stage when teaching dance classes to large groups. Also, while many tap dancers love our boards, our boards are perfect for practicing Irish step dancing as well!

How do you think you’d use a Dance Daze Dance Board? Let us know in a comment!