The importance of a sprung floor is really above the importance of anything else you can have in your dance studio (excluding teachers).
Short (true) story:
In a dance school, a male student was asked to perform a hard jump who ended up damaging his left knee after landing multiple times on the same leg.
The teacher kept saying “you’re landing too hard on that leg, you should do more plié!”.
The student was pretty confused as he felt he was already doing it. He also filmed himself and he really couldn’t understand how to do better.
After a serious injury and many medical examinations, doctors discovered that the problem was caused by a lack of shock absorption in the floor that was being used at the studio.
“There’s a huge difference between a trauma caused by a bad landing and a trauma caused by the conditions of the floor the dancer was performing on” said the doctors.
While the trauma due to a bad landing is more localized, the trauma due to a bad flooring usually tends to cover a larger area.
The two key-factors
Injury prevention: while jumping and landing, dancers create a continous force imparted to the floor. If the floor is unable to absorb this energy, the forces are returned to the dancers’ bodies creating traumas that can slowly (or instantly) become injuries. Some can be immediate while other micro-injuries can take time to become evident. The first body parts that absorb these returning forces in case of absence of a sprung floor are, unfortunately: feet, legs, joints, Achilles tendon and so on. If you want to wish a long-lasting career to your dancers, you definitely need to invest in a sprung floor. Here an example from Harlequin Floors.
A great performing surface: sprung floors can also help dancers to perform better! In particular the two main benefits are:
1. Stable landings: when the floor absorbs part of the impact, the landing is smoother and more stable. The “hopping” effect is reduced. Of course, dancers should also have a good technique to prevent injuries. That’s why, at the beginning of this post, we also pointed out the importance of having good teachers.
2. Higher jumps: the absorption of the landing can also create the “trampoline effect” instead, where the dancer receives an extra boost for the next jump. Be careful by the way, the trampoline effect must not exceed a certain amount. A floor who is too elastic can increase fatigue.
DIY sprung floor: is it a good choice?
Now that we discussed the importance of a sprung floor let’s give a short answer: probably DIY is not a good choice. Unless you’re really a pro with flooring solutions, we do not recommend to adopt the DIY strategy. You should always ask for the help of an expert who can assist you during the process. Otherwise there are also many specialized brands who can take care of the flooring for you. Of course, this can be expensive, but it’s going to be the best investment you can do for your Dance Space and for your dancers’ health and career. Renting a space with a sprung floor can also increase the chances of getting a reservation earlier.
If you’ve never considered the idea of renting your Space, you can start today for Free on Dancerents. Register here.