Okay, so I’ve been wanting to get a portable dance floor for a while now. I do a lot of different styles, and sometimes I just need a good surface to practice on, you know? Not all studios have sprung floors, and my apartment definitely doesn’t! After a bunch of looking around, I decided to try making my own “keel dancing birch portable wooden flooring.” Sounds fancy, right? It’s really not that bad.

First, I gathered all my materials. This was probably the hardest part, just figuring out what I actually needed. I ended up getting:

• Some nice birch plywood. I wanted something smooth and durable.
• These things called “keels”… basically just long strips of wood to create that “spring” effect.
• A bunch of screws. Like, a LOT of screws.
• Wood glue. Gotta keep it all together!
• Some foam padding. This goes underneath to protect the floor I’m putting it on and add a little extra cushion.
• Sandpaper, of course. Smooth is good.

Then came the construction. I started by cutting the plywood into manageable squares. I went with, I think, 2ft by 2ft squares. This made it big enough to move on, but small enough to actually, like, carry around. I’m no bodybuilder!

Next, I laid out the keels on the underside of each plywood square. I did a kind of grid pattern, making sure there was plenty of support. Then, I glued and screwed those suckers down. Seriously, so many screws. My হাত (hāt) – that’s hand in Bengali – was killing me by the end!

After the glue dried (I gave it a good 24 hours, just to be safe), I flipped the squares over and sanded down any rough edges. Nobody wants splinters while they’re dancing!

The final step was attaching the foam padding to the bottom of each keel section. I just used some heavy-duty adhesive for this. Again, let it dry completely.

The Result?

Honestly, it turned out pretty great! It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely portable. I can take it apart and put it back together pretty easily. And it has a decent amount of spring to it. It’s way better than practicing on carpet or concrete. I can do my practices and stuff. I will continue to add improvements to it. All in all, I’m calling it a win! I’m ready to take my dancing to the next level, wherever I happen to be.