What is Dance Subfloors? Creating The Perfect Dance Floor

Learn the benefits of having a dance flooring for dancers of all abilities and styles. Using the right sprung subfloor or foam subfloor, you may create the dancing environment of your dreams without having to break the budget.

Low-impact dancing is not one of those things that dance encompasses.

For dancers, landings from lifts and jumps, as well as floor work can be quite painful on the joints. Because of this, it is essential to have an impermeable subfloor beneath a Marley floor in order to avoid damaging your joints when dancing.

The word “supporting” does not imply that it will sink under you. This exact mix of support is necessary to avoid rolling an ankle when landing on dance floors.

Fortunately, we have a wide range of alternatives to choose from, from beginner to expert. Needs vary based on geography and style. High-density foam is acceptable for home practice and young dancers, however a professional company or advanced ballet studio normally requires a full-sprung dance floor.

Let’s have a look at the options and see which one is most suited to your situation.

Dance Subfloors

It is possible to lay a forgiving dance floor on top of concrete without shelling out a fortune. There are a number of different dance subfloors recommended by Greatmats, all of which are intended to be laid beneath a marley vinyl surface top for all purposes. Read on to find out which subfloor is best for your home’s construction needs.

High Density Foam Dance Subfloor Over Concrete

Use a high-density foam as the base for a dance floor installed over concrete. Sports Plus Designer Foam tiles, measuring 2 feet by 2 feet and 3/8 inch thick, are recommended by Greatmats. In order to keep the marley surface apart from the concrete, these low-cost dance floor tiles are ideal.

With a puzzle-piece interlocking mechanism, foam tiles can be put on a concrete dance floor. The dancing subfloor can be set up in a matter of minutes thanks to this method. For a comprehensive multi-purpose dance floor, simply place the marley surface on top. When constructing a dance floor over concrete, no adhesives are required. However, if you like, you can tape the edges of the marley surface.

First, Greatmats offers an Adagio marley dance floor, foam tiles and a roll of sticky tape for those who want to build their own dance floor from scratch. It’s a bargain compared to what you’d pay on the dance floor, which may cost well into the thousands.

For advanced ballet and pointe, a foam underlayment is not the best option. Soft and slow-moving floors are not ideal for pointe work. Use a plyometric rubber underlayment over concrete if your dance floor will mostly be used for pointe work. Rolls made of rubber provide a more stable basis while still absorbing some of the force.

Plastic Court Tile Dance Subfloor over Carpet

There is no need to pull up the carpet if you want to put a dance floor on top of it. Instead, make good use of the carpet. Carpeting serves as the dance floor’s cushion by being installed on top of hard plastic tiles. Over carpet and under the marley layer, Greatmats suggests Flat Top Court Tiles.

Despite their modest price tag, these polypropylene dance floor tiles are of the highest quality. They’ve got a super-tight loop and hook method for joining them all together. Simply snap tiles together and you’ll have a solid installation. If you like, you can use tape to secure the marley layer to the tiles, and then you’re done! Now it’s time to get your groove on.

Foam and Plastic Dance Subfloor System over Concrete

Plastic court tiles over foam tiles can also be used to create a home dance floor over concrete or other hard surfaces. Over a concrete base, this sort of dance subfloor layers provides the most cushion and support. Before placing the plastic court tiles, install foam tiles. Plastic tiles will not move due to the hold provided by foam tiles. A less expensive subfloor option than sprung dance floor systems is to layer foam and plastic tiles. The most typical application of this technique is to create portable dance floors for usage in the home or on the road.

Why A Floating Subfloor?

The floor of a dance studio sets it apart from any other room. Because transforming a place for dancing is likely to be your biggest investment, you’ll want to get it properly the first time. An unstable floor in a dance studio could mean all the difference between a successful performance and a painful rehearsal.

When a dancer leaps, they are given back three times their own weight. If you’re an expert dancer, you won’t be jumping on concrete. Even if you don’t get hurt right away, you’re still going to get tired and stressed out because of it.

“Micro-trauma” is a relatively recent subject of study in athletics. Pectoral muscles don’t always meet in the middle in senior athletes who play contact sports because the muscle fibers around the sternum become dislodged. This, according to the notion, is due to micro-trauma. Numerous small injuries accumulate throughout the course of an athlete’s career rather than one major setback. The body’s ability to withstand repeated blows will deteriorate over time.

Whether or not they’re jumping, dancers are continuously changing their weight and moving their bodies in dramatic ways, so they require more cushioning than someone who’s just strolling around would. Running shoes are commonly used to cushion the impact of sprints and leaps in other sports, but this isn’t an option for many dance forms.

The appropriate amount of cushioning for each step is essential to a good dance subfloor’s impact distribution. Weight rises and falls in a straight line when you leap on concrete. The weight shifts laterally on a floating subfloor. Stacks of cardboard boxes are frequently used as landing pads when people fall from a roof in movies. Shock is absorbed by the box and dispersed to the other boxes as they decompose. In a similar way, a floating subfloor distributes the impact into the surrounding pockets of air. Bowling balls and rubber balls are very different. Density is more important than weight. Soft landings and hard landings are entirely dependent on the amount of give.

Creating The Perfect Dance Floor

Shock absorption and surface texture are the most critical considerations when designing a dance floor.

With a Marley-Type dance floor surface, dancers have complete control over every slide, and it is widely considered to be the greatest choice.

If you’re wondering, “Can all this stuff get expensive?” the answer is yes. With our pre-assembled floating flooring kits, you can create a subfloor for less than $3 per square foot. Everything relies on the clean, straightforward aesthetic. For your convenience, we’ve created an Alvas Floating Subfloor Cost Estimator.

The ideal dance floor must be secure, pleasant, and allow the dancer to regulate their movement at all times. To that end, we’ve designed this package.

Pros of Foam Dance Subfloors

• It’s ideal for the home: The best subfloor alternative for a home dance studio or practice area is our foam dance subfloors.
• While these can be permanently installed, they are exceedingly light and portable, making them ideal for travel.
• Beginner-friendly Home Dance Subfloor Tiles are available, as well as more expensive options for intermediate moves. Whatever your preference, you’ll find it here.
• For the sake of your health and well-being, avoid dancing on concrete. In addition to making you feel terrible, it raises your risk of getting hurt.
• Installing it couldn’t be easier.
• Foam dancing subfloors are significantly less expensive than regular sprung subfloors.

Cons of Foam Dance Subfloors

• Some solutions are more limited in their application. Our foam dance subfloors are not certified for Flamenco, Ballroom, or Irish dancing, despite the fact that they work well for many other genres. Because of this, the Home Dance Subfloor Tiles are not recommended for advanced pointe work.
• Structural subfloors are less able to absorb the impact of a fall. These are helpful, but professional-level dancers need sprung dance subfloors with a more complex design.
• Professionally, they’re less well-known. Dancers will inquire if you have a sprung subfloor if you run a professional studio or company. Sturdy sprung subfloors are widely recognized, whereas foam subfloors don’t.

Foam Dance Subfloor Durability / Longevity

For a dance studio owner, replacing their dance subfloors is extremely uncommon. Dance flooring protects them from the typical wear and strain of a floor, so they’ll endure a long time.

In most cases, these subfloors are durable enough to endure the whole of your dancing career and even longer.

Foam Dance Subfloor Installation

A simple do-it-yourself project, setting up a Foam Dance Subfloor is a snap. Like a puzzle, foam tiles snap together with little effort. As a bonus, they’re incredibly light and easy to move around.

You’re done once you’ve interlocked your tiles to create the desired space. Yes, it is that simple.

In the case of our premium kits, you can just put the plastic on top of the foam without using any tape or glue. Interlocking loops can be found on these plastic tiles. Even while locking them in place may take a little effort, they are still remarkably simple. To ensure your safety, you can cut the floor loops with a plastic tile cutter.

Following the manufacturer’s instructions, put down your Marley on top of your Foam Dance Subfloor.

Best Flooring Options Above Dance Subfloors

Choosing the best dancing subfloor and then having to cover it with shoddy flooring is a waste of time and money. There is nothing worse than dancing on a sprung subfloor with nothing in between.

Vinyl Marley flooring rolls are the finest option (for the majority of designs). Dance tiles or conventional wood are excellent choices for other types of dancing that need for a hard surface.