So, you’re taking flamenco classes and you know the only way to really improve is to take time to practice. The best thing you can do is either rent studio space or build a home studio. Sounds lovely, right?
However, something more realistic would be to find a space in your home to practice- the garage, a corner in the bedroom, smack in the middle of the living room– and use your own DIY flamenco practice board.
Of course, if you have tools and skills you can create a beautiful board with hinges that lets you fold the board and with a nice frame to create a raised floor. If that’s not you, then the easiest solution is to go to the nearest home improvement store and buy a piece of wood and cover it with a coat of polyurethane, and you’re good to go!
Here are some tips to keep in mind:
OVERALL SIZE
You want to think about how you’re going to store the floor. Will it always be out or do you need to store it somewhere? I have a 2’x2′ board that I can whip out from behind a shelf for quick footwork practice, but I can’t dance around on it since it’s so small.
Ideally, you would have space for at least a 4’x4′ practice floor. But a floor that size is kind of difficult to move around. What I do is have two pieces of 2’x4′ and I tape them together with duct tape- not very beautiful but it gets the job done. This way, I can fold it up and easily move it to underneath my couch or up against the wall when I’m not practicing.
WOOD
Choose hard woods like birch or oak and stay away from particle board. Also, the thickest board you can get would be better because it will last longer and have a better sound. My tiny 2’x2′ practice board is only 1/2″ thick and sounds tinny. My larger 4’x4′ board is 1″ thick, which makes it a solid and stable (and heavy!) board. Both of mine are made of birch with a coat of polyurethane.
PADDING
As dancers, we need to dance on floors that don’t make us prone to injury. That’s why dance studios have raised floors, so there’s a little *bounce* and *give* in the floor. But if you’re going strictly DIY without any building skills or tools, then we have to think of different solutions.
The easiest one is to place the board on either a few layers of carpet samples or on a gym foam mat.
And that’s it! Now, if you want something a little fancier and pre-made, check out these great resources!
Fasfoot – portable, folding, and expandable dance floors — perfect for tappers, Irish Step and Flamenco dancers alike.
Alvas Bars, Floors & Mirrors– I’ve had my shows at Alvas since the beginning! Pre pandemic, they had dance studios, dance supplies stores and performance space. They still have the performance space but only sell supplies online. Check out the multiple flooring options. The roll up tap mat looks very cool!
Fábrica Flamenca en Sevilla– various portable wood floors
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