IncStores 12" x 12" Practice Dance Tiles

TL;DR: Decent dance surface—slicker than Marley, but grippier than typical household flooring. Pretty tight seams (not snaggy and distracting like some brands'). Not suitable for high-impact jumps on hard surfaces. Easy to assemble. Will skate across smooth subsurfaces (put some rug grip strips underneath to stop it). Looks really nice once assembled. Shipping package needs some cushioning to prevent damage, especially to corner loops.----The Long Version-----I. Why I Chose These Tiles-I'm a professional ballet dancer, and I bought a pack of these for the (admittedly kinda rough-and-ready) studio space I set up for teaching and taking class via Zoom and trying to stay in shape at home during the Coronavirus pandemic.After considering several different products, I bought these because they struck a nice balance between price (most dancers aren't exactly rolling in cash) and functionality *and* were available without a long wait. I also thought the seams between the tiles looked pretty tight, especially in this finish (more on that later).-II. Shipping, Packaging, Setup, and Appearance-Shipping on these tiles was included in the price and took only about 10 days at the height of the quarantine, when everything was taking longer than usual. As usual with Amazon orders, I received notifications that kept me up to date on the progress of my tiles from warehouse to front door.The tiles came assembled in sheets of four in a big, awkward box. If I order another set, I'll definitely include a note to the delivery driver to leave them at the side door, which doesn't have any exterior stores ... I didn't think of it the first time, and she had to schlep them up the porch steps on a dolly, since that's our default drop location.If I were a more patient person, I would've opened the box where it was, unpacked it, and carried the tiles down the annoying basement stairs in manageable stacks. Instead, because I'm an impulsive idiot, I wrestled the entire bulky box of 32 tiles down the basement stairs (note: these definitely don't weigh 2.2 pounds each—my job description includes lifting adult humans, and I'm fairly strong, but wrestling 70.4 pounds of shifting tiles in a box that barely fit in my arms might've been a bit much).I do not recommend the Impulsive Idiot approach. Save yourself some trouble: grab a milk crate (you can even order one from Amazon ^-^'), slide as many tiles in as you can comfortably carry, schlep, and repeat as needed.Like some previous reviewers, I noticed when I opened the box that almost all of the little loops were broken off on one corner of the stack. (Really, I noticed this before I opened the box—I could hear the little bits rattling around in there as I attempted to avoid tripping over the cat, falling down the stairs, or otherwise meeting an ignoble end in the pursuit of my chosen artform.)The loss of a loop or two doesn't greatly impact the functionality of the tiles (though it would if an entire side lost its loops), but the breakage could easily be prevented without much additional expense by adding literally any kind of packing material—even wads of crumpled newspaper just at the corners would help. No such packing material was included in the box.I had no trouble assembling my floor.Anywhere it was a little stubborn, I just set it down and stepped on it. I enjoy assembling things, and there's something quite satisfying about feeling these tiles pop together underfoot 😁.A rubber mallet would probably also have worked, and there was literally one in the next room, but I was too excited about trying my floor to go grab it.Once assembled, the resulting floor looks quite nice. I wouldn't hesitate to use these for a teaching or performance engagement where suitable flooring wasn't provided.The tiles also stay securely attached. When I was using an anti-slip rug liner under them, it would bunch up and raise the seams, but the tiles stayed connected.-III. Seams And Surface-The seams between these tiles (at least the black ones that I bought) fit very closely.You'll notice them if one is misaligned due to an irregularity in the surface underneath, but otherwise they're smooth enough not to feel snaggy and distracting.Once these tiles are fully engaged, the seams are barely noticeable even when dancing barefoot.This was extremely important to me, as some of the other portable floors I've danced on have had seams that could be felt through flat ballet shoes. That can be problematic when doing turns or any weighted sliding movement—the seams can catch your shoes, which can lead to blisters, slips, falls, and unexpected joint torsion. It also just plain feels unpleasant. These tiles generally avoid those effects.I think the main difference, really, is that the other portable floors I've encountered have all been the faux-parquet kind with a distinct dark rim at the edge of each tile that's about a millimeter or so lower than the main faux-parquet surface.A millimeter or two may not sound like much, but when you're balancing about 160 pounds of dancer on about 2 square cm of foot (plus a couple of toes) and rotating at speed with a lot of torque, it adds up quickly.The edges of these tiles are flush with the overall surface.By design, they do have an irregular texture, but it doesn't have snaggy edges that impede turns or sliding movements. It's actually rather better in that regard than I expected, in fact.In use, these tiles are not as grippy as *most* Marley-type floors, though the friction built into vinyl dance surfaces varies, and I've encountered a handful that are comparable to these tiles.Their surface friction is, however, a solid step up from that of a typical household floor such as finished hardwood, laminate, or resilient vinyl, and vastly better than the ancient, frighteningly slick, and paper-thin linoleum tiles that mask the bare concrete in my basement.Update: As with other vinyl dance surfaces, humidity will affect the friction level. The tiles feel grippier in higher humidity, which is consistent with my overall experiences.The texture is rather nice for turns: not so slick that you either can't generate rotational force or feel like it might be hard to stop; not so grippy that you feel like you're driving with the handbrake on.For tendus, etc, the relatively-moderate friction forces you to use your technique correctly. If you don't keep your weight mostly in the balls of the feet and reach down and away, you'll quickly find yourself standing on your heels and lifting your hips. It also forces you to be honest with yourself about your current range of turnout—you can't use the friction of this floor to force it, so you have to work with what you've got and gain strength to increase your range, which is what we should all be doing anyway.The tiles' slightly uneven surface texture is useful in preventing a few drops of sweat from converging into a slip hazard. Since I sweat like a cold glass of lemonade in July, this is helpful for me. Since almost everyone sweats less than I do (thanks, genetics), your mileage may vary.The composite from which these tiles are made also goes a long way towards keeping the chill of a concrete basement subfloor out of your feet and legs, which is important (especially when you have huge calves that take forever to warm up).-IV. Impact Absorption, Or Lack Thereof-I didn't expect these tiles to have any rebound or impact-absorbing capacity, and they mostly don't. That's not what they're designed for.The honeycombed structure of the backs of the tiles does make them somewhat less harsh than bare concrete floor beneath them, but I still recommend using caution (and your best plié) if you're going to do jumps while they're installed over a concrete base with no added shock-reducing surface.Atop carpet (especially with padding) or foam puzzle mats, they might actually work pretty well for jumps, but I suspect they would pop apart if you landed on a seam in that setup That's not a design flaw—these tiles are intended to be portable and thus have to be reasonably easy to disassemble, so that's just the nature of the beast.However, if you're setting up in a carpeted room (especially one with really plush pile or padding), setting down some subfloor plywood underneath should prevent that problem.-V. 'Flying Carpet' Prevention-Although these tiles make a reasonably heavy unit once they're all clicked together, they'll still skate across smooth surfaces under some circumstances.Ballet dancers are trained to use the resistance of the floor to power our movements—kind of like friction-driven toy cars.I've managed to send my entire assembled floor sailing while doing balancés, which was startling. Usually, *you* travel, not the floor!I've also produced the same effect with a strong piqué arabesque (where you launch yourself beyond the toes of a straight leg to arrive in a balance on the ball of one foot), which was frankly alarming ... though I managed not to fall out of the arabesque balance as the floor scooted along and stopped, and went on to finish the exercise, so that was cool, I guess?Anyway, the answer, if you're using these tiles on a smooth, hard surface, is to add some anti-slip rug strips. Trying to dance at home while dodging furniture, pets, and loved ones is difficult enough without your entire floor sliding away!I originally suggested shelf/rug liners, then found these little stick-on strips that work REALLY well. Just search Amazon for "rug anti-slip" or something similar, and you can find a million options. I got 24 for around 13 dollars and only used six—two on reach front corner, plus one stuck to the center front edge of the 3rd and 5th tile (my installation is 7 tiles wide). Sadly, I didn't think to take pictures before I stuck the tiles down, and now I don't want to disturb my setup.The liners also work, but not as well, and they bunch up too easily.With the sticky grippers, my floor is well and truly not going anywhere now until I peel it up.-VI. Durability-These tiles seem pretty durable. The main tile part is quite solid, and although the assembly loops can break off, they hold up to repeated assembly and dissembly quite well.I don't know how many times I decided to rearrange the layout of my tiles before landing on the one that best met my needs, but every single tile in the set has now been clicked together and taken back apart at least three times without any apparent impact on the loops or the little pinchy bits that interface with them.This past weekend, my husband taught a class using the videoconferencing setup in my studio. I set up a table and some chairs for him and kept my concern about my precious tiles to myself, and I'm pleased to report that the tiles were not harmed in any way.It's probably a good idea to avoid scraping chairs across them and so forth, but they seem to hold up fine to gentle contact with chairs, tables, footstools, and the like.Provided that I manage not to drop them on their edges while transporting them, I expect these tiles to hold up well over time.-VII. Conclusion-These portable dance floor tiles are less expensive than most of the other options on the market, assemble and disassemble easily, and create an attractive and useful surface for dancers working (or playing!) in unusual settings. I wouldn't hesitate to add more to my set, and in fact I plan to do so quite soon.

I had some trouble with the corners fitting because of the way I connected the pieces. They look really good in the space and as soon as I had finished I spilled something. Easily wiped them up. Not sure I would use any harsh cleaners on them though. The pieces for the most part snap together well but does take some finessing. I was okay with that because I didn't want them coming a part every time I walked on them.

I purchased 9 tiles to form a tap practice floor for a 3 year old. It is thin, but should be good for my purpose. When it arrived the box was in horrible shape and some of the tiles have places where the surface is lifting on the sides or chipped off. It still makes a nice size practice surface and I imagine tap shoes will continue to beat it up a bit, so I will not be sending it back. The tiles were easy to put together and the whole piece slides under the couch to store.

Not sure how good a dance floor this would make, but that's not what we used it for. We wanted to create an art space and wanted something hard that looked good to cover and protect the carpet, this worked prefect for us. On carpet this flexes a lot so we had to put down 1/4in plywood under it, it still flexes some so if putting over carpet and you want no flex I would recommend 3/8in.

I bought this product just in time for my work Christmas Party at my place. I placed 2 separate orders to hopefully complete a set ( but I miscalculated and ordered a total of 54 tiles instead of 56 to make a 7x8 dance floor… my bad!) They arrived earlier than expected but one of the boxes was misplaced so I reached out and got taken cared of appropriately and received a replacement. Unlike most of the reviews that said they received with broken knobs due to inadequate padding, mine arrived just perfect! Very easy to put together, at first I just used my fist to tap them together. But with so many tiles, I ended up using a tool. I don’t understand when people say it was hard to install. You literally just tap the edges together. Taking them apart was even easier. I spent half the time I took installing the dance floor. Highly recommend this product.