Harlequin Vitality helps turn dingy garage into a fully equipped home dance studio!

Many people think a fully equipped dance studio in their own home is out of their reach. When Linda Williamson contacted Harlequin Floors in March 2015 about converting her garage into a home dance studio, our sales team offered her the advice and support she needed to make the leap to convert her dreary garage into a fantastic home studio space.

Linda took advantage of Harlequin’s Vitality which is designed to be a cost effective, self-installed sprung floor system which still meets the high testing and safety standards you can expect from any Harlequin product.

We caught up with Linda after her home dance studio was finished and asked about her dancing, her home studio, and why she chose Harlequin Floors to make her home dance studio a reality. “My name is Linda Williamson from Hertfordshire, I used to be an auditor before I retired seven years ago. I always wanted to tap dance but because of staying away on business I could never join dance classes.

I always had a yearning to tap dance and as a child loved to watch the great tappers; Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and more recently Adam Garcia. I had a long wait before I could start to tap, but it is the best thing I did. I joined two tap dance classes, one is a dance based class and the other is learning the technical side and is ISTD exam based. I passed levels 1 to 4 and have just started level 5. I have appeared in lots of shows at the local theatre and love everything about tap dancing, it is also a great fun way to keep fit. For years I dreamt of having my own dance studio and, for the solution, kept eyeing up my garage which was stuffed full of items collected over twenty years, so clearing it was quite a daunting task.

However, the desire to tap dance overtook the hard work, so the garage was cleared. I didn't need planning permission as I kept the garage door in place and covered the inside with silver curtains, complete with a glitter ball! The most important thing in the dance studio was going to be the sprung dance floor suitable for tapping. After enquiring at a few local companies, I researched on line and discovered Harlequin Floors.

I sent an email to tell them what I was doing and asked for their suggestions. Suzanne French at Harlequin made it so easy for me, she suggested the flooring choices suitable for my requirements, the type of adhesive I would need and the correct cleaning fluid, calculated how much flooring was required, and sent me a brochure showing everything I would need as well as samples of the flooring. I chose Harlequin Vitality self-install sprung floor system topped with Harlequin Cascade performance vinyl which has proved to be an excellent choice, great for tap, the sound is clear and the sprung floor is great and helps to protect the knees. I chose the Cascade in light grey for the top surface as I have a small space and wanted to keep the room light. I found a great contractor (thank you Gary Miall) to do the conversion and in two weeks it was no longer a dingy garage it was my fantastic dance studio. I would have no hesitation in recommending Harlequin, the flooring and the service from the point of enquiry to delivery was excellent, nothing was too much trouble. Thank you Harlequin for helping to make my dream come true. I use the room most days and I love it.”