Round table in Madrid

On 23rd April 2007, we organised a round table in Madrid with the cooperation of the Comunidad of Madrid, on the necessity to introduce a regulation in Spain, concerning the installation of dance studios.

Unlike France, which has official regulations for the installation of dance floors, there is still no such regulation in Spain. Only the Royal Decree 389/1992 of April 15, 1992 states that “the dance floor must have shock absorption properties”.

The round table brought an important representative panel of dancers, doctors, architects and principals of conservatories or municipal schools together.

Medicine serving dance

Among the speakers we had Dr Boni Rietveld, Orthopaedic Surgeon and Director of the Medical Centre for Dancers and Musicians in The Hague, Dr Juan Bosco Calvo, specialist in injuries in flamenco dancers and the famous choreographer and flamenco dancer María Pagés, who was the first user of the Harlequin LIBERTY™ sprung floor for flamenco.

A conclusion in 3 points

After the various presentations and debates, participants came to the following conclusion:

- Unlike France, Spain does not have any regulation for dance floors. The only instruction is that the floors should have “shock absorption properties”. All participants laid stress on the fact that this notion is vague and not clear enough.

- In Spain most dance studios built with public funds are not equipped with professional dance floors. This is due to either lack of knowledge on the part of those who design and build these buildings, or because the budgetary means are not sufficient.

- Unsuitable dance floors endanger professional dancers or amateurs who perform on these dance floors in the short, medium or long term.

In light of this, a regulation for dance floors is not only a necessity for those who make use of them, but also an obligation for politicians.

A European awareness campaign

This round table follows the one held in 2006 in Monaco on the need to inform the Councils on the subject of the installation of dance floors in France.

The next round table is scheduled for 2009 in Florence in the form of a conference debate in the building of the Danza in Fiera.