(Figure: Professional dance studio of CY Ballet)
2077 Victoria Ave, Saint-Lambert, QC J4S 1H1
Ballet is the art of dancing on your tippy-toes. But guess what gets the closest to those toes?
“Pointe shoes!”
Nope!
It’s the floor! 😄
In ballet, dancers in a Pas de Deux (that’s a fancy word for “duet”) have a partner. But what about soloists (solo dancers) or Corps de Ballet (the whole group)—do they have partners?
“Nope, they’re alone!”
Wrong again!
Their most loyal, silent, never-leaves-your-side partner is…
the floor!
It supports them, puts up with all the stomping, jumping, and spinning—every single day! 💪
When the world’s top ballet companies go on tour, they bring tons of stuff. Like, three giant 40-foot shipping containers full! What do you think is inside? Costumes? Props? Backdrops?
“Yep, that’s it!”
Nope!
Guess what else they bring?
The floor!
Not just one, but three full sets of it! (One for performing, two for practice!)
Because, hey, every dancer needs their best buddy with them! 💃🩰🕺
Now, CY’s new dance studio is super fancy—big and bright, super clean, and fresh. They’ve got shiny new barres, special dance flooring from overseas, and a huge mirror wall that lets you admire your coolest moves from every angle. So… which part do you think cost the most?
“The mirror, duh!”
Nope again!
It’s the floor!
Yep, that humble hero under your feet is the priciest star of the show! 💰✨
(Figure: Professional dance studio of CY Ballet)
Remember in “Ballet Behind the Scenes”, CY told us that a typical ballet show lasts about 2 hours?
Let’s take The Nutcracker—you probably just saw it over Christmas, right? Well, in those 2 magical hours, the ballerinas dancing as Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy have to leap into the air a whopping 196 times!
Yep, 196 jumps! 😲
And guess what? The male dancers go even bigger—they jump higher, with more power.
If you stacked all their jumps together, it would add up to about 900 feet (that’s 274 meters)—
as tall as a 90-story skyscraper! 🏢🚀
But it’s not just about flying through the air—when they land, their ankles and knees have to absorb the shock of eight times their own body weight. Ouch! That’s like having a baby elephant jump on you! 🐘💥
By the end of the performance, a ballet dancer has burned as much energy as running 29 kilometers (that’s like a mini marathon!) or playing two full soccer games! ⚽⚽
(Figure: Professional dance studio of CY Ballet)
A pro ballerina who’s danced almost all the classic ballets once said:
“About 70 to 80% of dancer injuries happen during jumps.” 😬
Yep—jumping is beautiful, but it’s also risky business!
And guess what? A dance scientist and biomechanics expert (yep, that’s a real job!) named Luke Hopper studied this and found something super interesting:
💡 “Hard floors make the pressure on a dancer’s ankles way worse. Only floors that meet professional standards can actually help protect their joints.”
When dancers land, they hit the floor and—BOOM!—in less than a tenth of a second, their ankles take the biggest hit.
And no matter how amazing or skilled a dancer is, they can't stop that pressure from happening.
So, long story short…
Forget the glittery costumes, fancy props, sparkly stage makeup—
The floor is the real MVP of ballet! 🏆🩰
It’s not just where they dance—
it’s what keeps them dancing.
(Figure: Professional dance studio of CY Ballet)
So, when CY was just starting out—not a lot of money, just a big dream—they made a surprising choice:
💰 Instead of spending on flashy stuff, CY put their biggest investment into…
the floor.
Yep! The one thing no one really notices but every dancer depends on. 🙌
Now let’s break it down. Here’s how floors rank from simplest (and cheapest) to fanciest (and priciest):
🏠 Home floors:
Just a wooden frame + one layer of floor.
Or sometimes just plastic padding + one layer of floor.
Simple stuff.
🏋️ Sports floors:
A tough wear layer + a support layer + a shock-absorbing layer.
More protection for jumping and running.
🩰 Professional ballet studio floors:
Now we’re talking!
-
1 shock-absorbing pad
-
3 layers of wood framing
-
2 layers of wooden boards
-
And then a special dance surface on top
Let’s do some quick math:
That’s 7 layers total! 😮
Which makes it about 3 times thicker than a normal floor.
So of course, the installation costs and work time? Also 3 times more!
But hey—when your dancers are leaping like superheroes every day,
you need a floor that’s just as strong as they are. 💪🩰
(Figure: Professional dance studio of CY Ballet)
Here’s a fun fact:
There’s no official rulebook for how to build a perfect ballet floor.
No checklist. No gold star from the floor police. 🚫📏
But CY?
CY doesn’t play the “just good enough” game.
They went straight for the top-of-the-top, best-of-the-best standard. 💯
They didn’t just wing it.
CY talked (and talked... and talked!) with some of the world’s leading companies—
you know, the ones who build floors for the fanciest ballet companies out there. 👑🩰
They double-checked, triple-checked… maybe even quadruple-checked:
-
The exact size of the studio 📐
-
The perfect distance between every single wooden beam
-
The ideal thickness of every layer—wood, padding, and dance surface 🪵🧽
CY was so precise, you’d think they were correcting dance technique, not building a floor!
“Toe point! Rotate that hip! And hey—is that beam 40cm apart or 41?” 😂
Because at CY, even the floor gets treated like part of the performance.
Quiet, humble, and absolutely essential. 💖
(Figure: Stretching time of Pre-Ballet II class)
Here’s the thing—right now, our little princesses and princes are still super light and bouncy. 👑✨
They wear soft ballet shoes, do simple moves, and only dance for an hour or two each week. So their little joints? Barely feeling the pressure! 😌🩰
But CY isn’t just thinking about now.
CY’s thinking waaay ahead—like fairy-tale-into-the-future ahead! 🏰🔮
As our dancers grow taller, stronger, and start wearing pointe shoes around age 12 (yes, the tippy-toe kind!),
their jumps get higher, spins get faster, and—yep—you guessed it:
the pressure on their joints goes up too! 💥🦵
So CY wants to make sure that every single CY kiddo grows up dancing happily and healthily—
no ouchies, no injuries, just pure dancing joy! 🎉💃🕺
You know the saying,
“Good work doesn’t always get noticed, but good hearts always know.” 💛
That’s CY: building strong from the ground up, so every dancer can soar.
(Figure: Stretching time of Grade I class)
Not every ballet company brings their own floor on tour.
And not every ballet school has a floor this professional.
But guess what?
CY kids are just as lucky as the world-famous dancers from the Mariinsky Ballet! 💃🩰🌟
Yep—our little stars get to dance on the same kind of top-quality floor that the pros use on the big stage.
Fancy, right? 😎👏
So whether you’re doing your very first plié or twirling like a stage superstar,
you’ve already got the floor of a champion under your feet!
(Figure: Stretching time of Pre-Ballet I class)
And now… final reminder!
Cue the dramatic music and BIG chalkboard sound...
🎓📣 Pay attention, class!! BANG BANG BANG 🧑🏫🩰
Just because we have a super fancy, professional floor doesn’t mean you can slack off!
✅ You still have to follow your teacher’s instructions
✅ Do the moves properly
✅ Use the right muscles the right way
Why? Because it’s not just about looking pretty—
It’s about staying safe! 💪😌
And those little muscle exercises we tell you to do after class?
Nope, you can’t skip them. We see you. 👀
Tiny muscles = big protection for your joints. 🦵🛡️
So remember:
Protecting your body starts with YOU!
The floor's got your back—now you’ve gotta do your part too! 🙌✨