Performance surface

A performance surface is a flooring suitable for dance or sport. Performance surfaces are normally laid on top of, or are part of, a sprung floor to produce a complete or sports floor.

Dance performance surfaces made of sheet vinyl are also called dance floors and marley floors. They are called marley-type floors from a very popular reversible vinyl flooring manufactured for years until about 1978 by Marley Floors Ltd.

Theatres often have a number of roll-out floors with different characteristics to satisfy the requirements of different forms of dance.

This article deals mainly with the customization of a floor for different activities by the use of different surfaces. The sprung floor article deals with the basic requirements and construction of floors to make them suitable for dance and indoor sports.

The sprung floor article outlines some of the different standards with regards to the performance surface of a sports floor. Below are some of the key factors that can influence the performance surface required within a sports facility.

A sprung floor with a hard surface provides protection from serious injuries rather than minor injuries. A fall can still cause bruises. A soft performance surface on the other hand can provide protection from minor injuries but not serious injuries. Providing sufficient protection from serious injury for adults using a thick performance surface alone would render it unsuitable for most dance or sport. This is because a performance surface is point elastic whereas area elasticity as provided by a sprung floor is mainly preferred.

In general dance requires less traction than gym. However a floor should not of itself be very slippery or sticky. DIN 18032 defines a range of traction which should suit most activities. These type floors should also be smooth, and a slide should not cause carpet burn. This means it is difficult to stop them becoming slippery when wet.

Most of the differences between the different disciplines can and should be catered for by the use of appropriate shoes. On the same surface a dance shoe with a leather or suede sole will give much less traction than a gym shoe with a composite rubber sole. A sticky floor used for gym is very likely to cause twisted ankles, and a slippery floor used for dancing is liable to cause bad falls.

Everyday footwear nowadays tends to have a higher traction. For occasions like weddings where the dancers may not have proper footwear a slightly slippier floor could compensate somewhat, but a highly polished floor can be very dangerous with leather soles. Both gyms and dance clubs are better off providing good safe floors and encouraging the use of proper footwear.

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Wikipedia