All classes are taught on a floating, “sprung” dance floor with a professional grade surface designed for safety and protection of the dancer.
Why’s That?
True spring dance floors have the right amount of resilience to them. dancing on concrete underlayment or even on a plywood underlayment over traditional joists results in the body absorbing the energy of that impact. A true sprung, “floating” floor means that every point on the dance surface is separated from the sub-floor, which makes for flooring that helps to prevent injury and is predictable. As it is non-slip, the top surface enables the dancers to concentrate solely on performing well. A poor dance floor can create many physical problems because they allow no “give”. A proper floor absorbs energy, preventing overuse injuries.
Why is this important?
The impact force with which the foot strikes the ground will rebound off the surface and vibrate up through the body as an energy shock wave. This shock wave effects muscles, tendons, ligaments, and leads to joint trauma at the ankle, knee, hip and lower back. According to sports medicine experts, the body feels three times its weight in pressure with each foot-fall while running and up to seven times its weight when it jumps. Regularly jumping on an improper floor can result in shin splints, sprains, or worse.