Preservation Utah will host a presentation with Steve Jordan, author of "The Sprung Dance Floor" at The Memorial House in Salt Lake City on Tuesday April 7th at noon. Learn about the history, the sociological implications, and the evolution of technology used to make those floors spring. As pioneers crisscrossed the continent, they brought their dance traditions, including the tavern or inn ballroom with its mysterious sprung dance floor.

Americans have always liked to dance. From the Colonial Period until the mid-twentieth century, Americans gathered to celebrate weddings, harvests, political events, and the return of good weather. As pioneers crisscrossed the continent, they brought their traditions, including the tavern or inn ballroom with its mysterious sprung dance floor.

Learn about the history, the sociological implications, and the evolution of technology used to make those floors spring.

Steve Jordan, Presenter
Steve Jordan has been in the business of old-house repair and restoration for 50+ years and is retired from restoring old and historic wood windows. He is a graduate of Cornell University’s Historic Preservation Program, was a contributing editor for Old-House Journal, the former rehab advisor for The Landmark Society of Western New York, and an architectural conservator for Bero Architecture.

He has written three books about window restoration, including The Window Sash Bible and, recently, The Historic House Handbook for the Landmark Society of Western NY. He first learned about sprung dance floors in 1988 when he relocated from Oklahoma to central New York. Intrigued by their lore and mystery, he began a decades-long quest to research and record this once-common architectural and sociological feature. His new book, The Sprung Dance Floor, chronicles the existence of sprung ballroom floors from Colonial America to now.