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In light of the recent coronavirus pandemic, many studios have been forced to cancel classes. Fortunately, many studios are offering to stream classes through various online formats to protect students, families and communities from spreading COVID-19.
Although this isn’t a replacement for a regular studio class, it can help bunheads stay in shape until they can return to their normal studio schedule.
But online classes can be so much more beneficial if bunheads have an adequate home studio or practice space and it’s surprisingly easy to gather the necessary components to build an in-home studio or practice space. In fact, most of the components can be ordered online and delivered right to your door.
A couple of years back, we created a practice studio area in our basement for our growing bunhead, just simply so she would have a space to dance that wasn’t the kitchen.
Now that she is having to stream ballet class online, we are grateful that we had this space already set up for her and now we are sharing what we did to create our home studio.
First you’ll want to decide on a space for your home studio. It could be an entire room or just a small corner of a room. You’ll also have to consider whether or not the fixtures (i.e. the floor, the bar, mirrors, etc…) can be permanent, or whether you’d like to be able to move them when they are not in use.
We decided to build our daughter’s practice studio in one corner of the finished part of our basement. We decided some of the fixtures could be permanent, while others (like the floor) we would want to be able to move or store when not in use.
Once you’ve decided on the space, then you can start looking at the other components like the floor. In dance studios, the preferred floor is marley, a type of vinyl flooring that is secured to the subfloor.
Most dance studios also have “sprung floors” to help prevent injuries. It is a floor suspended with foam backing or rubber feet. We decided that installing a sprung floor might be taking it a little too far for a home practice studio and that we didn’t necessarily need a sprung floor for a small practice space.
However, we did want to have the hard, vinyl surface for her to dance and turn on. Luckily you can purchase rolls of marley like this on Amazon: .
This is the same type of flooring used in most dance studios and on stage for performances. We also discovered a cheaper option of vinyl that is really close in feel to marley but for a much cheaper price. It is the PVC liner used under shower pans like this:.
For a 5’ x 6’ foot piece it’s only $30. However, it has some writing on one side of the roll. We found that the ink could be removed with acetone. Whichever vinyl product you use, you simply lay this flooring on top of any hard floor (cement, or wood, etc…) and secure it with tape like this: .
If your flooring is carpet, like ours, you could secure it to a piece of plywood. We picked up our plywood at a nearby home improvement store and they will even cut it to size for you.
Next, you’ll need to decide which type of bar you want to use. We have a great article on the best bars for a home studio here: https://bunheadcrew.com/best-ballet-barres-for-your-home-studio/.
We chose an adjustable, fixed barre like this: .
Since our home studio space would only be semi-permanent, we felt that the fixed barre would be the most stable and yet, being on the wall, it wouldn’t take up too much room if we want to pick up the dance floor and use the space for other reasons.
Knowing what kind of barre you will be using will help you determine whether or not you want mirrors and where you will install them. Mirrors are important so bunheads can check their form and technique.
Full-length mirrors are ideal but they don’t necessarily have to be attached to the walls. You could use a full-length mirror, like this: .
This mirror leans up against the wall or can be attached to the wall. If you are looking for a more permanent mirror like we were, you could install 1 or 2 of these on your wall: .
We installed 2 of these sections vertically along the wall. We liked that this mirror comes with a safety backing in the event that the mirror should shatter for any reason.
Having these basic components, you can turn any space into a home studio and that means that bunheads can keep dancing even when they can’t leave the house. Or they can just dance whenever they feel like practicing, not just necessarily when they have to practice social distancing.
