Dance Floor Options
Finding the right flooring is a crucial investment in your dancer’s health and in the maintenance of your studio or performance space. Harlequin offers an extensive range of sprung and vinyl flooring options to suit a range of dance styles, performances, spaces and events.
Here is our brief guide to everything you need to know about Harlequin dance floors so you can find the right flooring for your needs.
Factors in Choosing a Dance Floor
There are some key considerations to make before beginning your search for the right dance flooring, all of which will be unique to your styles of dance and studio space.
Technical specifications
The style of dance your new flooring will be catering to will dictate the requirements you have of your flooring. For more energetic styles of dance you may require sprung flooring to provide a shock absorbent surface to prevent injuries. For percussive dance styles such as tap or Irish dancing, you may be after a flooring that offers the best clean, crisp sound. Whereas for dance styles such as ballet, your flooring will need to be noise dampening instead.
Portability
Depending on the type of space you have, you may require a portable flooring solution for touring, or a permanent or semi-permanent flooring for studio spaces or stages.
Finish
To keep your studio or performance space looking professional and well maintained, or for the right visual impact for public performances, you’ll need to think about the flooring finish. Harlequin caters to a range of finishing styles from custom printed floors to vinyl, high shine floors and traditional wood-style flooring.
Usage and Environment
How your space and floor will be used is a final, and crucial consideration to make. Portable flooring is a good option for multi-use spaces such as school halls or multipurpose rooms to avoid damage to your flooring during other activities. If you have a dedicated dance studio however, then a permanent or semi-permanent flooring option would be more suitable.
Our Dance Flooring Options
With so many Harlequin dance floors to choose from, it can be difficult to find the right one for your requirements. Here is our breakdown of Harlequin’s sprung and vinyl flooring options.
Sprung Floors
Sprung flooring offers a shock absorbing surface for dancers, and can help to reduce micro-injuries to dancers’ feet, legs and ankles. Sprung flooring is popular with a broad range of dance styles, but particularly those with more energetic movements as the sprung mechanism can return energy to the dancer and reduce fatigue.
Harlequin WoodSpring
Our premium sprung flooring option, Harlequin WoodSpring offers an innovative take on the traditional basket weave sprung floor mechanism. With a 64% shock absorption rate, Harlequin WoodSpring is particularly popular for ballet studios. This flooring style is also suitable for use with some of our vinyl floors, as well as hardwood or engineered board finishings.
Harlequin Activity
Harlequin’s own ‘triple sandwich’ construction method creates a ‘fully floating’ sprung floor without the ‘trampoline’ effect of traditional sprung flooring. Elasticity areas offer a consistent feel across the whole floor and provide 64% shock absorption. Another popular sprung flooring for ballet dancers, Harlequin Activity is also available for use with solid hardwood, vinyl or engineered board surfaces and can be laid on any surface without prior preparation.
Harlequin Liberty
Modular panel based flooring system with dual density shock dampening pads to offer uniform shock absorption. Harlequin Liberty is a popular sprung flooring choice for travelling ballet companies as it is easy to store, transport and construct.
Harlequin Liberty HD
Harlequin Liberty HD is an advanced version of the Harlequin Liberty flooring system. Designed for the same ease of transport and installation, Liberty HD is coated in a resin to provide extra grip and weather protection, making it more suitable for outdoor use in more challenging environments.
Harlequin Flexity
Harlequin Flexity offers a cost-effective self installation sprung panel system which is ideal as a permanent or semi-permanent solution for private or in-home dance studios. Offering a 67% absorption rate, Harlequin Flexity is also suitable for use with underfloor heating.
Vinyl Floors
Vinyl dance floors can be laid on any hard surface to create elegant dance floors either alone or in conjunction with a range of our sprung flooring options as well. There are two main types of vinyl flooring, soft vinyl and dense vinyl. Soft vinyl is more pliable and lightweight and often the choice of ballet or jazz dancers. Dense vinyl floors are more durable and produce a clean sound, making them better suited to percussive dance styles including tap and Irish dancing.
Harlequin Cascade
Harlequin Cascade vinyl flooring offers an excellent grip for dancers with a silky finish making it an ideal ballet floor for studios, sets and stages. Ideal for loose and permanent installation, Harlequin Cascade can also be used in conjunction with Harlequin sprung floors and is available for bespoke printing. Harlequin Cascade is also now available with anti-microbial technology to keep your dancers healthy and safe.
Harlequin Standfast
This heavy duty vinyl flooring is suitable for a wide range of dance styles including percussive dances, TV production and theatre stage floors. As well as offering a highly durable and multi-purpose surface, Standfast is also slip resistant and can be laid on top of a range of our sprung flooring solutions.
Harlequin Marine
International Marine Organisation (IMO) standards and fire safety compliant, Harlequin Marine is a vinyl flooring solution designed specifically for use on cruise ships. With a scuff resistant, hard wearing, marble effect surface, Harlequin Marine is designed for permanent cruise ship installation and can also be laid on top of Harlequin sprung floors.
Harlequin Studio
Another popular hard wearing vinyl dance floor, Harlequin Studio is typically used in ballet studios, but also suitable for a wide range of dance styles as it can be laid on top of sprung flooring solutions. Suitable for loose or permanent installations with a slip resistant surface to create a surface ideal for more demanding choreography whether on tour or in the studio.
Harlequin Clarity
Harlequin Clarity is a unique, transparent vinyl floor, specifically designed for reverse digital printing to create unique dance floors. Harlequin Clarity also has the highest abrasion classification available to keep your flooring looking immaculate. A great flooring choice for ballet, hip-hop, jazz, contemporary and modern dance as a permanent solution or travelling dance floor.
Harlequin Fiesta
A vinyl dance floor that looks like hardwood, without the cleaning and maintenance! Harlequin Fiesta is ideal for ballroom dancing and percussive dance styles as well as theatre and operas. This vinyl flooring is tailored for permanent installation and creates an excellent dancing surface when used with Harlequin sprung floors.
Harlequin Duo
Harlequin’s original double sided performance floor offers a highly versatile flooring option that is lightweight and easily portable for touring dance companies. Suited for a wide range of dance styles including tap, ballet and hip-hop, and also suitable for use on television sets.
Harlequin Duo Pro
Harlequin Reversible Pro offers the same versatility as our Harlequin Reversible, but with a mineral fibre interply layer. Make your performance space truly unique with bespoke printing on your Harlequin Reversible Pro flooring. Another great touring floor, easily portable and simple to maintain, suitable for a wide range of dance styles such as Flamenco, tap and jazz.
Harlequin Allegro
Harlequin Allegro is the thickest of all our roll out vinyl floors, offering unique cushioning and elasticity to minimise impact injuries and fatigue. Ideal as a permanent or portable flooring solution for contemporary, modern, hip hop and jazz dancers.
Harlequin Freestyle
This vinyl flooring is tailored specifically for hip hop, street dancers, breakdancers and Capoeira, and is also a great choice for classical ballet elements. Harlequin Freestyle offers a slip resistant, padded surface for free yet safe movements. Also suitable for use over Harlequin sprung floors for additional support.
Home Practice Flooring
So you can keep practicing at home, we also offer a range of home practice flooring, including a tap and turn board designed specifically for percussive dancers, and a home practice mat so you can dance on Harlequin Studio or Harlequin Cascade anywhere you like.
Contact Us
Finding the right dance flooring can be a time consuming process, but it is an important decision to get right for your dancers’ health and the maintenance of your dance space. For more information about our range of sprung and vinyl dance flooring, contact us today.
