Protected Areas: Harlequin Flooring Permit School Dancers to Concentrate on Creating as Artists

Between balancing dance classes with academic requirements and rehearsal schedules with studying, college dance students have plenty on their minds. What shouldn’t be added to that list? Whether the studio floors they’re spending their days on will cause injury or discomfort.

Thanks to Harlequin Floors, students and professors at a growing number of colleges know that when they enter the studio each day, they’re being supported from the ground up. Members of Marymount Manhattan University and Arizona State University’s dance departments recently shared their experiences dancing on Harlequin Floors.

Marymount Manhattan College

“Having spent multiple years in the summers traveling to small studios that haven’t spent the money on sprung floor, and teaching for four or five hours, you really feel the difference in the shins and the feet. There’s a kind of achiness that takes on. But here at Marymount, when I’m in rehearsal for two or three hours, and I’ve taught for three hours in the morning, I don’t have the same effect. So, I think that’s very much due to the floors.”

—Nancy Lushington, Assistant Chair of Dance

“Having a floor that supports dancers in all different styles—being able to be in your ballet shoes versus pointe shoes, jazz shoes, and we spend a lot of time barefoot here and in socks in our contemporary and modern works—is really important. It’s been a very beneficial thing to have at Marymount, because we are so versatile as dancers.”

—Summer Hatcher, BFA in Dance, 2025

Marymount Manhattan College students in class. Courtesy Harlequin.

“There are just no issues with the service and the quality of what we get from Harlequin. I was fortunate to have many opportunities to dance on a Harlequin Floor, and I had a long career. Still dancing.”

—Nancy Lushington, Assistant Chair of Dance

Arizona State University

“As a dance educator, I believe it’s incredibly important to create safe spaces for our dancers to explore their art form, and by offering them opportunities to dance on Harlequin Floors, we are really investing in them being able to dance for their whole lives.”

—Nicole Bradley Browning, Clinical Assistant Professor of Dance

“It’s extremely important that we start creating the spaces for sustainability and longevity. I come across a number of young dancers who are complaining about knee injuries and Achilles being damaged. How are they ever supposed to bring this art form forward if we’re not creating a comfortable and safe space for our learners to continue to develop who they are?”

—Shola K. Roberts, Assistant Professor of Dance

A studio at Arizona State University. Courtesy Harlequin.

“When I’m dancing on Harlequin Floors, I really don’t have to worry about injuries or tripping over any part of the marley. Harlequin Floors, I’ve noticed, allow me to just dance in my full capacity and really engage with class.”

—J.P. Alejandro, MFA in Dance

“When the door opens and dancers come in and lie on the floor it’s almost like they come into a sacred space, and we don’t know what will unfold, but it’s going to be beautiful.”

—Nicole Bradley Browning, Clinical Assistant Professor of Dance

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