Dance vs. Sports Floor
The sub-floor
Along with some shock absorption, most indoor sports
require a high degree of energy return and a requirement for adequate
ball bounce. Dancers have little interest in ball bounce, but they are vitally
focused in energy return. Indoor sports people can tolerate a stiffer floor as
they usually have cushioned footwear — a luxury barred to dancers.
The performance surface
Here, the main criterion for dancers is
slip resistance, disconcertingly dubbed “traction” by many in the dance
community. Although athletes share the risk of slipping and falling, they
are generally protected by their footwear. Lower limb problems such as
tendinitis, shin splints, knee pain and ankle strain can all be attributed to
incorrectly specified sprung floors.
A medical opinion
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Boni Rietveld, M.D., B.A.,
of the Medical Center for Dancers and Musicians in The Hague, offers his
opinion that, “a dance floor should be neither too supple nor too soft. A
hard floor has the effect of causing serious return shock waves and can
bring about injuries or premature wear in the cartilage. A soft floor causes
the muscles, and therefore the tendons, to work harder. Additionally, a
floor that is too soft can be dangerous for dancers because of the effect of
surprise. To illustrate my point: I invite anyone to jump on my sprung floor
panel in the clinic and then on the concrete floor next to it; all will experience
the effect of surprise. It is like jumping on a trampoline and then on a
tiled floor.”
Semi-sprung or sprung
The desire for a floor with “give” was accelerated
by the fashion in ballroom dancing before and after the Second World
War. These floors often used coil or leaf springs and, as genuinely sprung
floors were far too bouncy for ballet or contemporary artistic dance, the need
to provide semi-sprung floors — particularly for ballet — led to considerable
modifications. In the last 50 years, metal springs have largely given
way to resilient blocks or pads made of rubbers or polymers. With modern
floor construction methods, the bouncy effect of the early sprung floors
has been suppressed and these modern floors for both sports and dance
are generally referred to as semi-sprung. Nevertheless, the distinction has
been forgotten and for convenience we loosely refer to both types of floor
as sprung floors.
Standards
If you are working through an architect, being clear
about the importance of specifying a floor with the right characteristics
for dance can avoid expensive rectification at a later date. For many
products specified by an architect it is normal to demand that they meet
the appropriate standards. The absence of standards for dance floors was
noted by the US-based organization Entertainment Services Technical
Association (ESTA) and a Working Group was set up to establish an international
standard to be adopted by the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI). A new standard, modified to reflect the interests of
dancers and related stage performers, was developed by this committee.
Section, BSR E1.26, relates to shock absorption: “Recommended
Testing Methods and Values for Shock Absorption of Floors Used in Live
Performance Venues.” This standard provides protection to specifiers and
manufacturers in the form of consensual test data. In order to provide
useful guidance to architects, a free comprehensive guidance booklet
- Specifying Dance Floors: A Guide for Architects - is available from Harlequin
Floors at us.harlequinfloors.com. This not only explains how floors are currently
tested, but also provides a collection of useful information when
specifying a dance floor whether to refurbish an existing space or for a
completely new build project.
This article originally appeared in the October 2016 issue of School Planning & Management.