# Temporary Marley Dance floor on the cheap



## TheaterEd (Sep 16, 2016)

Alright, so I have a group wanting to rent my facility and they will need to have barefoot dancers. I'm not comfortable with them dancing barefoot on our wooden stage. The stage is in good condition, but it still has its chips and divots that I don't want to turn into splinters or worse. Renting a marley floor around here is going to cost between $500 and $600. Considering our rental fee is only around $1000 it seems cost prohibitive for this non-profit group. 

So I was researching options and came across this thread. Which lead me to finding this product. What do you all think? Could roofing underlayment be the answer? $150 including tape, and they can hang onto it if they want to rent our stage next year.


Note, I am a high school aud manager with no interest in getting into the dance recital game, so I won't be investing in my own marley any time soon. But for these cultural events, this might be a solid option.


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## Van (Sep 16, 2016)

After digging through the specs on the material I would have to say , No, this is not what you want to use. This product is described as synthetically bonded Polyfin strands; It's felt. besides tearing up feet I highly doubt is has any give. Even with thin Marley the point is that it cushions the impact and provides consistent friction. I also do not think you could hold this stuff down by simply rolling it out. 
The material they are talking about in that first thread you linked to is EDPM, I think. Which is a rubber product used for pond liners and as an under-layment for some roofing products. It is heavy enough to stay down but it's stretchy and the seams are impossible to tape without using some really toxic cement or really thick Butyl tape. 

The only option I have ever seen that is even close is upside down vinyl flooring. You get a cheap to decent vinyl floor, preferably without any embossed pattern, and lay it down on the stage upside down. The back side is a little more spongy than Marley, and a bit more pourous. It has more grip than Marley, which may be a drawback. Now, if this is Ballet the answer is go rent a marley. if this is African, Modern, Break you could use this. if it's HipHop <shuffle, break, jump, b-boy> it's probably got too muck stick. 

Warning, vinyl floor will tear if subjected to weight and spin, so if there are heavy dancers doing pirouettes < Think the hippos in Fantasia> this is not recommended. 

Oh, Vinyl floor like this is IS fantastic as a paint surface for floor finishes for theatre provided you seal it after painting.


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## TheaterEd (Sep 16, 2016)

This is an Indian cultural event, so mostly the dance styles of India. Really, I'm just looking for an option to protect barefoot performers. They will Rehearse on Friday, perform on Saturday, and then I won't see them again until next year.


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## Footer (Sep 16, 2016)

TheaterEd said:


> This is an Indian cultural event, so mostly the dance styles of India. Really, I'm just looking for an option to protect barefoot performers. They will Rehearse on Friday, perform on Saturday, and then I won't see them again until next year.



So you are looking at a lot of stomping. You don't want something that is going to move like this stuff could. Unless your floor is really throwing up splinters I would not worry about it. Mop well. Throw gaff on the bad spots, and forget about it... or make the marley floor rental a show expense. They are going to get red paint on everything anyway. You are giving away your venue for a 1000 dollar rental... let them know the condition of the floor and see what they want to pay for.


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## TheaterEd (Sep 16, 2016)

Footer said:


> You are giving away your venue for a 1000 dollar rental.


 This I know.... Working on it... 

Our floor is in great condition. It is only four years old at this point and only has a hand full of trouble spots, I'm just the worrying type and like to make sure I've dealt with any problem before it arises. Also, with events like these, I'm okay with making the process to rent more complicated to ensure the group is the serious type and is planning appropriately. 

Currently I am leaning towards just allowing them to rent the space without the Marley and just pursuing that when the stage condition requires it. Fortunately the red paint hasn't been an issue in the past, but believe me, I will be monitoring the situation closely. 

Going to sleep on it over the weekend and see how I feel Monday. I won't be pursuing it anytime soon, but I still like the idea of a one-off disposable Marley substitute, so if anyone has ideas I'd love to hear them.


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## MeasureThrice (Jan 12, 2017)

TheaterEd said:


> Alright, so I have a group wanting to rent my facility and they will need to have barefoot dancers. I'm not comfortable with them dancing barefoot on our wooden stage. The stage is in good condition, but it still has its chips and divots that I don't want to turn into splinters or worse. Renting a marley floor around here is going to cost between $500 and $600. Considering our rental fee is only around $1000 it seems cost prohibitive for this non-profit group.
> 
> So I was researching options and came across this thread. Which lead me to finding this product. What do you all think? Could roofing underlayment be the answer? $150 including tape, and they can hang onto it if they want to rent our stage next year.
> 
> ...



I recently had a ballet group bring in some roofing underlayment to use as a stand-in for a marley floor. It fhad been donated by one of the parents and I overheard that it was priced at $9/sqft...much more than a the adagio floor from Rosco...but I guess he didn't need it. It seemed to work well enough for their uses, but it certainly did not look very nice. It was much thinner and less dimensionally stable as a real floor. The entire building smelled like a tire store for the next several days, too. They were happy though, so I suppose that's all that matters.


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