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High heels and floors
Quick question:
Are there any studios out there that do not allow clients and instructors to wear shoe due to damage the floor receives?
What kind of floors are typical in pole dance studios?
Would you take classes at a place that didn’t allow you to wear shoes?
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16 Replies
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i’ve only seen laminate and hardwood flooring in pole studios.
i dont know of any that do not allow shoes due to damage. do you mean dents in the floor, or scuffs?
i would not take classes at a studio that didn’t allow shoes. -
Yes some woods are softer than others I suppose and take more damage from heels dropping on them and ofcourse the scuff marks.
I wouldn’t want to take classes at a studio that wouldn’t let me play in heels either. I think damage to floors is part and parcel of owning a studio and owners should research long and hard about what they install. They need to think about the damage the floors might take. The floors should be the most expensive thought out installation – next to poles ofcourse.
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i also would not take lessons if shoes were not allowed. not that i wear them all the time, but it should be my choice. now, i have been dancing for a while. if it was an issue of being new and not wanting the beginners to wear heels till later that is different, but i think you just mean for the floors.
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Would not consider it. To me it sounds like the studio is too cheap for proper flooring or upkeep of the floor and it would make me wonder what else they are skimping on.
There was a studio in town (no longer in business) that did not allow fake nails. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif
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I’d just like to put a different perspective here. The studio I teach at is owned by one awesome young woman, currently 8 months pregnant, and she’s only owned it since March…so you do the math on the sudden collision of finances. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif We have a long wish-list, but we can only accomplish it by chipping away at it a little bit at a time. Next up is hardwood floors and a few more poles. After that, we’re going to do mirrors. None of my students wear shoes for two reasons:
1) they’re still a little too new at this to be able to wear them safely
2) we are genuinely concerned about the floors.Bear with me. It’s short pile carpet. If someone’s heel digs in it can not only trip them but leave a hole in the carpet with a big tag of pile hanging out that could trip someone else or throw someone off balance during a yoga class. We have played around a little in shoes, but at this point I don’t think I’d want people doing a full hour class in heels on it. It’s just a temporary situation until we do the floors in the next few months-after baby-but in the meantime, it’s not that we’re being cheap about it, or that we’re a bad studio because of it. It’s just that current restrictions on the personal lives of everyone involved in the studio means we really don’t want to deal with the headache of having a big, unsafe, expensive rip in the carpet right now, and our students aren’t advanced enough to warrant that kind of wear, anyway.
Our students love us and come to class religiously. They see that we’re doing big things with what we have. We don’t skimp on dedication and quality of experience, and many a wonderful studio have started out–or still are–in carpeted rooms and/or industrial buildings. Before you render total judgment about them not being totally enthusiastic about heels, find out why. There are lots of reasons, and one could simply be "we need this carpet to last two more months." And it’s as simple as asking why and whether they plan to replace the floors soon. There’s always two sides to every story, and the story of most great studios starts small!
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There was a studio in town (no longer in business) that did not allow fake nails. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif
the only studio in town (for now anyway https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif ) doesn’t allow fake nails either.
I can see no shoes for beginners, its a safty issue. However no shoes ever for anyone? Not so much it is a part of doing business if floor wear and tear is your concern. Now if you are just going after the "pole fitness" crowd and not the being sexy part that is different too https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif
and I can understand no heels on carpet, too easy to injure yourself heels do NOT do well on carpet.
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Good point PDR…but your studio is doing the best they can.
I’m certain if you were installing a new floor you would choose what was the best option – as opposed to having to make due with what you have available until you can do better.
When we installed our laminate flooring we reserched and chose based on fact that dance floors take abuse and we knew heels would be worn in the studio from time to time and possible more often in the future.
We didn’t even want wood floors for this reason…laminate holds up to heels better AND you can replace laminate planks easier and more economically than wood when a path is worn around the base of the pole.
Now if we moved to a new location and had wooden floors, we’d deal with it, but upon choosing a new floor we were careful in what we considered.
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Yes, if we had our druthers we’d already have new floors. However we are limited in what kinds of laminates and woods we can choose…it’s an industrial location and you can’t put real wood down on top of concrete floors unless you build up a whole new subfloor on top of it because of the moisture transfer and temperature swings through the slab. So for some studios with cncrete floors, short pile can be the best option and of course heels there can be a safety issue. Especially with the volume of wear which is huge.
Bottom line, I still say I would need to investigate why a studio doesn’t allow shoes. There could be lots of perfectly rational reasons and a studio could still be a fun place to go and a fantastic place to learn even with some shoe limitations. I think if my options were two studios and the one with the better environment, better instruction, and better students also happened to have a no shoe rule–and they had a reasonable explanation as to why–I would choose the better studio and keep the shoes to my home.
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AND …..ps Empy, I’d love to hear what you ultimately went with so I can help her on the decision making since shell be busy with the whole birthing a child thing LOL
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We went with laminate in both locations. We’ve had laminate at our main studio with removeable poles (that we set up every night, 3 nights a week) for 4 years now and no problems. That location is a residential structure with wooden floor joists and underlament over the joists.
We just installed laminate at our second studio which is industrial and has concrete flooring. It’s not encouraged but it’s not "Bad" to use laminate over concrete. The only problem I see so far is that it’s definitely colder in the winter with laminate as opposed to the industrial carpet we use to have.
I think most newer buildings are using laminate over concrete from the places I’ve seen but you’re right as I haven’t seen wood over concrete so far.
I emphasize we used high quality laminate. It’s important. Also, I’ve had Pergo laminate in my kitchen for over 15 years now and it’s still in great shape. Of course it doesn’t get the abuse that a dance floor would, but then with a family maybe it does? Still a wood floor would have shown a lot more wear and tear than this laminate flooring has!
BTW…we also have a laminate ceiling in our main studio!!! So the floor looks just like the ceiling!
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One of out studios has wood floors, the other has carpet, (but the poles at that one are set up on square metal "plates" about 2ft wide.) They allow barefoot or any type of shoes.
i would not care if I could/couldn’t wear heels, but I would assume some people would.
I would go to a studio regardless of their footwear policy. -
This is rather interesting…I’ve been to a studio that didn’t allow barefeet!! Not because she wanted the girls to learn how to walk in heels but because she had foot issues. You either had to wear socks (lmao) or heels!
The whole not allowing fake nails is rediculous…IMO! What’s that all about?? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_scratch.gif
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um….a pole dance instructor who is freaked out by seeing feet? That’s um….odd.
I agree on the fake nails …there is no way they can harm the pole! Although I’ve seen some girls who’s nails were so long they couldn’t wrap their hands around the pole to grip properly! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif
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I know right?! She would even wear her socks with her heels!! LMAO!
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She didn’t like seeing her OWN feet? Now that’s weird! I bet she never enjoys a pedicure either!!!
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