subject: Turn Your Wood Dance Floor Into A Pilates Floor [print this page] Turn Your Wood Dance Floor Into A Pilates Floor
Many dance studios are looking for ways to increase revenue in these tough economic times. If you own a dance studio, one way you can make your space more versatile is to offer it for exercise classes that complement your dance work. These might include pilates, aerobics and yoga. Much of pilates and yoga are done laying on the floor, and thus a floor with a soft surface is required in order to prevent injuries from occurring. Soft mats are used by exercise participants in order to give them the cushioning they need to perform the exercises, but it is also helpful when the exercises are performed on a sprung wood dance floor.
In order to create a pilates floor or yoga floor out of your dance floor, it will need to have a non-slippery surface. This will make for a much safer flooring surface for exercises that do not require speed. A floor that is suitable for ballet dancing is also great for yoga flooring, for example. An aerobic floor should also provide the cushioning that comes with a sprung floor used at better dance studios. Because aerobics classes such as bench step, for example, use repetitive and percussive motions of the legs, a good aerobic floor should have some give to it, and thus a sprung floor is perfect for this purpose. The cushion helps to prevent stress injuries common to those who exercise on concrete floors and other surface with no resiliency.
Just as with a dance floor, your pilates floor should also be strong and durable. This is a big reason why wood is preferred for a pilates or yoga floor. Your yoga flooring might be made out of maple, ash or birch. All of these woods used to make a pilates floor feature the beauty of natural wood, which gives a warmth to any room in which it is used.
All of these wooden yoga floor surfaces can be used to create a sprung wood floor. A sprung floor essentially has a center core that provides cushioning to the top yoga flooring layer of wood, and these two layers are placed on top of the bottom sub floor layer. The center layer may be created out of foam in order to provide a resilient dance and exercise surface. Better sprung floor manufacturers also make the flooring in smaller panels, so that it is possible to remove and move the flooring to another room. This type of flooring can travel with you to a number of different dance studios, saving you money over the lifetime of the floor.
A sprung flooring manufacturer can offer advice about suitable pilates floor options for your dance studio.