Open Forum

Good for you! It's really important to remember that you need an air mattress underneath the floor to help absorb the impact on the joints when landing from any allegro work. Your best options are either Marley or a polished wood floor. It depends on what your main styles of dance are. Or you could get both. :)  Take into account the number of students who are dancing barefoot versus those who are tapping, cheering, in character shoes, etc. 

The nice thing about Marley is that it can be rolled up for storage. You will need to tape it down when it is in use though. So if you're planning on moving it a lot you will go through a lot of tape. It is fairly easy to maintain and lasts for a long time. If you're going to be working barefoot, in ballet shoes, jazz shoes, etc I (personally) prefer a polished wood floor. 

The need for a shock absorbing floor system is fundamental to the activities you describe.  This protects the performers from both joint injuries and dental damage (some forms of dancing can jar the teeth together and wear / chip the tooth enamel).  Although some of the spongy padded floor overlayments can provide a bit of impact absorption, they don't work long-term very well and have to be replaced fairly frequently.

The preferred solution is an engineered sprung floor with a top surface that suites your friction needs.  The sprung floor system is similar (but NOT THE SAME) to a basketball court floor.  If any one balks at the cost, just remind them that the school values the athletes enough to provide a proper sports floor, so this is no different in function.

The sprung floor system is not the working surface - the working surface is a completely different issue and has to do with the sliding friction that the floor surface presents to the dancers.  A tongue and groove pine or oak floor looks nice, but it is a maintenance nightmare.  Keeping a surface like this sealed and splinter-free is much more difficult than it sounds.  This is why the top layer of the sprung floor decking system can be a more industrial material as it will be covered with a thin layer of dance floor material (aka 'Marley' or 'Harlequin').

If you are to teach tap dancing, you will need some special removable protective cover panels so the tap shoes don't destroy new dance floor.

You should also consider the daily (or more frequently) maintenance that this floor needs, too.  Blood, sweat, and tears end-up on this floor and it is important that the floor is cleaned for hygiene reasons frequently.  The correct type of cleaning fluids and mops are essential to the longevity of the floor so you don't ruin it.

The bottom line is that this is a significant architectural element that needs to be engineered by someone that understands dance floors AND the construction process that school districts must follow to have this type of structure installed in the school in a building code compliant manner.

Ultimately, this may involve both an Architect and a theatre / dance flooring consultant to get it all into a specifiable package that can be put out for bid by competent contractors.

If you are doing dance rehearsals it helps to have stage lighting so that the dancers can get oriented to the locations of the light sources and the variation of lighting levels.

A good sound system that does not annoy the adjacent classrooms is also helpful.  Don't expect a simple jam-box to jet the job done.  A lot of bass energy in the room may require reinforcing the walls and doors so that the sound does not disrupt nearby classrooms.  Depending upon the size of the space, it may be helpful to have a good quality wireless microphone system so that instructions can be conveyed to the students without yelling.

Please feel free to contact us if we can help.

Rose Brand is one of the specialist in the USA providing different kinds of professional dance flooring for different situations.   They are one of the experts on the subject and I would contact them.  Here is there website.  Dance Floors from Rose Brand

Assume there are a few other companies that provide great dance floors as well, but most of the professional companies I know work with them.  They have offices in the West Coast, East Coast and Canada. 

It is great that you are dealing with this issue.  I know and have worked with performers who can no longer dance  and have knee problems because of classes being taught on cement floors when they were young.   Have experienced a few cement floors classes myself when I was training.  When you are young, trusting and taking classes you think nothing of it...until you land wrong!   It is important to teach to your students how important it is to treat their tools (there bodies) well and the surface they work on is part of that. 

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Stanley Allan Sherman:
Custom theater mask making, Commedia dell'Arte masks & workshops. NYC winter holiday workshops and summer workshops
Mask Maker, Commedia dell'Arte expert, Teacher, Mime, Movement, Actor, Director, performer, producer of workshops and shows.
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New York NY
stanley@maskarts.com  212-255-2882
il-dottore@commediau.com New York NY
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