What is Marley Flooring?
Marley floors are the premier dance flooring option, used in studios, performance spaces, and schools worldwide. They’re made from slip-resistant vinyl that simply rolls out for an effortless installation.
Dancers love Marley because it gives a safe, controlled surface with enough slide for turns and enough grip for big jumps and fancy footwork.
If you want to get technical, Marley was the brand name of the pioneer in vinyl dance flooring rolls. It became so popular that, these days, all vinyl floor rolls are commonly referred to as Marley.
Want to discover the perfect Marley flooring for you? Start by checking out the products our customers love most!
Customer Favorite Marley Flooring
Why Choose Marley Floors?
Marley-style roll-out dance flooring rolls are definitely the first choice in dance flooring. Here’s why:
- Best slip resistance/grip: Marley floors are the safest option for turns and jumps. No wood floor will ever be able to compare.
- Super easy installation: Roll it out, tape it out, and you’re done!
- Price: Marley floors are really quite inexpensive for what you get. Plus, you can save money on installation because they are super DIY-friendly.
- Maintenance: All Marley requires is regular sweeping and mopping with our Dance Floor Cleaner.
- Portable options: For touring companies, dance tiles aren’t the only portable option! There are plenty of options for a portable Marley dance floor that you can pick up and take on the road.
Where to Use Marley Dance Flooring
No matter where you need to dance, there’s a dance roll designed for your needs. Check out our recommendations for home dance studio flooring and touring dance flooring.
Marley Floors for Dance Studios
In a dance studio, your students are going to be practicing all kinds of styles, from pointe to hip hop, and everything in between. That means a lot of traffic, and a lot of wear and tear from hard shoes.
To survive in a demanding environment like this, your dance flooring needs to be tough and versatile, with a nice cushy warranty to back it up.
For studio use, we recommend VersaStep Dance Rolls.
Marley Floors for Home
Need a place to practice your pirouettes outside of the studio? It’s a necessity if you really want to hone your skills.
The best Marley floors for home are our portable/touring options. You don’t want a big, heavy floor intended for the stage in your basement. It’s just not practical.
A light, multi-style option is the perfect solution for dancers looking to get some home practice.
For home use, we recommend Rosco Dance Rolls.
Marley Floors for Tours
For touring dance and theatre companies, it’s crucial to have a high-quality Marley floor you can easily transport and take on the road. These floors are going to be installed and uninstalled hundreds of times. The last thing you want is heavy, bulky Marley rolls that make your job harder.
Don’t worry; you can find a sharp, gorgeous Marley floor with the lightweight ease you need for travel and enough versatility to support multiple styles. These rolls are still ultra-durable, built to handle the abuse of tours, buses, and more.
For touring, we recommend ProStep Dance Floor.
Marley Flooring for Your Dance Style
Every dance style is unique, and different styles have certain requirements for the right flooring. You need the perfect balance of grip and slip for ballet, and it all about the acoustics for tap dance flooring.
That’s why it’s important to find a floor that matches your style. The great news is, there are tons of options when it comes to a Marley floor! You can choose the perfect floor for all types of dancing.
The Best Marley Floors for Ballet
Marley is indisputably the best flooring for ballet. The precision and skill of ballet and, in particular, pointe, require a delicate balance of slide and grip to keep dancers safe.
We recommend Rosco Dance Rolls:
Pros: Rosco Dance Rolls are versatile and lightweight, perfect for ballet and modern studios, tour companies, and more. They have extra resiliency and just the right amount of slip control.
Cons: They're not suitable for tap, ballroom, or permanent installations.
The Best Marley Floors for Tap and Irish Step
People are often surprised when we recommend Marley floors for tap dancing. The truth is, there are some vinyl Marley floors that either cannot hold up to the abuse of tap shoes or don’t produce good sound quality.
However, there are many Marley floors specifically designed to not only hold up to your shoes but to produce fantastic sound quality, as well.
We recommend Adagio Rolls:
Pros: Adagio Rolls provide excellent tap sounds. They were specially designed to hold up to any dance style, installation, or location.
Cons: They're heavier than some of the touring options.
VersaStep Professional Dance Floor RollsThe Best Marley Floors for Jazz
The speed, precision, and high-energy movements of jazz require a heavy-duty floor with just enough grip to keep you from sliding out of those kicks and turns. Jazz is usually fast-moving with big, explosive movements and Marley is the best flooring for that job.
We recommend VersaStep Professional Dance Floor Rolls:
Pros: Adagio Rolls are compatible with any dance style, and can hold up to the high energy of jazz dance.
Cons: They're a bit heavy, so not as easy to transport.
The Best Marley Floors for Contemporary and Lyrical
With lots of floor work, contractions, and choreography that pulls you off your center, often into less than natural positions, you need the right floor to support you.
Marley is the best flooring option for contemporary dance – just make sure you don’t pick one with too much grip if your dancers plan to dance barefoot.
We recommend ProStep Dance Floor:
Pros: ProStep Dance Floor rolls are perfect for modern studios, with just the right amount of slip control.
Cons: They're not suitable for tap, ballroom, or permanent installations.
The Best Marley Floors for Hip Hop
Hip hop is pretty low maintenance. You can really do it on any surface and in just about any location.
You don’t need Marley for hip hop, but it’s a great choice if you’re also using the room for ballet, jazz, etc. Most Marley floors are great for hip hop, but you want to steer clear of the most delicate and the highest grip options.
We recommend VersaStep Professional Dance Floor Rolls:
Pros: VersaStep is our beefiest, brawniest Marley floor. It was specially designed to handle the abuse of hard-soled shoes.
Cons: They are not suitable for tours.
VersaStep VersaStep Professional Dance Floor Rolls: The Best Marley Floors for Ballroom
While traditional wood floors are often best for ballroom, there are a few Marley options that can hold up to those pointy heels and still provide enough slide for turns and fast footwork.
We recommend VersaStep Professional Dance Floor Rolls:
Pros: As our toughest Marley roll, VersaStep can withstand the abuse of hard-soled shoes.
Cons: These rolls are heavy and not very portable.
The Best Marley Floors for Flamenco
Lots of intense, hard-hitting footwork requires a tough, durable floor. Like tap and ballroom, not all Marley floors can hold up to the demands of flamenco.
Similarly, there are a few that are up to the task and can help keep dancers safe with just the right amount of grip.
We recommend VersaStep Professional Dance Floor Rolls:
Pros: Our Versastep rolls are built tough. They can handle the traffic of hard-soled shoes without a problem.
Cons: You can’t take them on tours because they’re so heavy.
The Best Marley Floors for Drill Teams
When it comes to drill team, precision is key. Marley is the perfect choice to provide stability with enough slide to land those turns perfectly.
We recommend Adagio Rolls:
Pros: Adagio Rolls provide excellent tap sounds. They were specially designed to hold up to any dance style, installation, or location.
Cons: They're heavier than some of the touring options.
Marley Dance Floor Installation
The first step to installing your dance floor is determining how permanent it needs to be. Think about how you’re going to use the floor. Is it going on tour with you, or are you setting up a home studio?
Choose from temporary, semi-permanent, and permanent dance flooring.
- Temporary: This option is ideal for home dance studios, special events, and touring dance companies.
- Semi-Permanent: A semi-permanent installation is sturdy enough for long term use, but it’s easy to remove if necessary.
- Permanent: Pick a permanent installation if you need flooring for professional dance studios and schools.
Marley Dance Subfloor
One of the last things that people think about when installing Marley Flooring is the subfloor. Most people think that they can put these rolls over a soft foam underlay, then everything will be fine, but that’s not the case.
To ensure the safest floor and reduce the risk of injury, it’s a good idea to have a sprung subfloor. Whether you’re a studio, school, or professional company, the last thing you want is injured dancers. And the best way to prevent injuries is to start with a sprung subfloor.
The sprung flooring absorbs and distributes the dancer’s weight, which allows dancers to continue to jump, leap and roll with a lower risk of injury.
Fortunately, we make it simple by offering subfloor tiles. Just interlock them and you’ve got a safe, simple subfloor.
How to Install Marley Dance Floors
Traditionally, you can easily install Marley dance floors yourself by laying rolls flat and using vinyl floor tape over the seams. Of course, we always recommend checking the product specifications before installation. Here are step by step instructions for a temporary or semi-permanent installation:
- Unroll the flooring and let it rest for 1-2 days until it lays flat. Install the shiny side down, matte side up.
- If you need to cut the rolls, use a straight edge and a utility knife. Leave a 1/4" gap around the rolls to account for expansion and contraction.
- Apply double-sided carpet tape to the underside of each roll around the perimeters, and firmly press the edges to the floor, ensuring there are no ripples.
- If you’re installing over foam subfloor tiles and you have excess around the edges, tape this perimeter down to your main floor using Mat Tape, creating a ramp or tapered installation. If you’re installing over foam tiles and there isn’t extra around the edges, tape down the perimeter of the roll directly to the subfloor tiles using Mat Tape.
- On top of the flooring, use mat tape to join the seams of multiple rolls together.
- Over time, you may need to replace the tape as it gets worn down or torn from footwork. You should refresh the top tape every few months. The double-sided tape underneath can last for a couple of years.
If you need to install the roll more permanently, you can glue it down with pressure-sensitive adhesive.
How to Clean Marley Dance Floors
All of our Marley floors are specifically designed to hold up to years and years of dancing of all levels. In fact, most of them boast at least a 5-year warranty, with our wood-look options offering as many as 10 years.
You can help it along by making sure you clean the floor properly. It’s really simple! Just follow these tips:
- Sweep or vacuum any looks dust or dirt. Don’t let it sit and get ground into your floor.
- Clean up spills right away. For a deep clean, damp mop with our Dance Floor Cleaner.
Generally speaking, it’s really just as easy as taking care of any home floor. Just make sure to clean up regularly and you’re good to go!
Marley Dance Floor Reviews
ProStep Dance Floor - Custom Cut
“Like many dancers, my 15-year-old daughter has been dancing at home on zoom. Our hardwood floors were treacherously slippery for dancing on, especially en pointe.
Our Marley flooring made all the difference. It’s the perfect size, it rolls up easily for storage, and it is of course the perfect surface for dancing on. We are very pleased and we highly recommend this product.”
VersaStep Dance Rolls - Custom Cut
“We put a roll of this flooring over our rubber mat gym floor so that our daughters could do their dance classes while in quarantine and it works great! They are doing tap, ballet, and jazz and say it feels like their flooring at the dance studio.”
Rosco Dance Floor Rolls - Custom Cut
“The purpose of the floor is a home ballet studio for our daughter. We sprung the subfloor using plywood over new padding, which sits on top of existing carpet and padding. Installation of the Rosco flooring was simple and straightforward and the customer service was very helpful and courteous.
The results are beautiful and durable, and my daughter reports that the floor is the perfect ″speed″ for pointe work. Further, we saved a significant amount of money purchasing through your company and doing the installation ourselves.”