When Ashley Burkland opened Ashley Ballet Arts Academy in 2012, she started with two small studios in a 3,200 square-foot space. Due to the popularity of her program, Ashley quickly grew out of that space and needed to relocate to a significantly larger space – and she turned to Rosco for her dance floor solutions. This is her story…
When Ashley decided it was time to make the move, the first thing she did was investigate her floors to see if they could somehow remove them and re-install the flooring in a new space. It was quickly apparent that the floors would not easily move and that she would have to purchase all-new sprung floors and Marley vinyl flooring for her new dance studios.
Purchasing a sprung dance floor is easily the most expensive investment Ashley (or any dance studio owner) made for her business. You can imagine Ashley’s disappointment when she learned that she’d have to make that investment all over again! The dance floor company she originally worked with wasn’t even in business anymore, and she was forced “to take a sledgehammer and demolish” her flooring and start again in the new space.
A volunteer stages one of the Rosco SubFloor Panels before installation
Ashley Ballet Arts Academy now offers three much larger dance studios inside a 7550 square-foot space – each one outfitted with a sprung Rosco SubFloor and covered with our Black/Grey Rosco Dance Floor. In order to provide all three studios with a sprung floor, Ashley needed over 350 of our 42”x42” SubFloor panels. Each panel has shock-absorbent, closed-cell foam pads that are strategically placed underneath to offer the proper amount of cushion and provide a safe dance area for Ashley’s students and teachers. The SubFloor Panels and our Customizing Panels both feature our patented Wave Lock™ Technology to provide an even sprung floor from wall-to-wall – without any “dead zones.”
A close-up of the Rosco SubFloor's Wave Lock™ Technology and its resilient foam pads
The Wave Lock also makes our sprung SubFloor system much easier to install. The panels aren’t meant to be glued down and they’re designed to slide together quite easily. Thanks to these easy-to-install features, Ashley didn’t need to hire a flooring contractor to install the floor. Instead, she pulled together a crew of “handy-dads,” and other volunteers who were able to install the floor in all three studios in one long weekend. “The whole process of installing the Rosco Dance Floors actually exceeded my expectations with the ease and enjoyment of it,” Ashley said. “The quality of the Rosco Dance Floors is a great value.”
One of Ashley’s “handy-dads” sliding one of the Rosco SubFloor Panels into place
Once the SubFloor and the Customizing Panels were installed, Ashley needed to choose which type of vinyl Marley floor to cover it with. She decided on our Black/Grey Dance Floor – Grey side up. Aesthetically, she preferred the lighter color better and felt it complemented the high ceilings of the space. Functionally, she chose the Rosco Dance Floor because “it’s wonderful for Pointe work,” and she found that the floor rolled out and installed very easily.
Studio 1 Inside Ashley Ballet Arts Academy’s new location
The students and instructors at Ashley Ballet Arts Academy are now happily dancing, teaching, learning and rehearsing in their new studios. Ashley proudly reports, “now I have my dream facility, with state-of-the-art equipment – and the Rosco Dance Floors are the cherry on top.” Perhaps the best thing about this story is – should Ashley ever grow out of this space and discover her next “dream facility,” she won’t have to demolish her floors. Because neither the SubFloor nor the vinyl Dance Floor on top of it is glued down, she can take her Rosco floors with her – wherever her future may take her.
Ashley teaching her newest ballet students inside her new “dream facility”
If you’re about to move into a new dance space, upgrade your existing floors, or build-out a brand new dance studio – we would love to assist you too! Make sure you contact our Rosco Floor experts as you research your flooring options. If you would like to learn more about all of our dance studio products, please visit the Dance Solutions page on our website.
Video and images provided by Miles Heille
Rosco Dance Floor Products provided by Gopher Stage Lighting
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