Sprung Floor


The anti-crack crusaders: Robert Coverdell, Steve Isaacson, Ryan Favorite, *fellow in a green shirt*, and Molly Olson.

Last night, installation of the sprung floor commenced at the New Theater. A sprung floor yields better to impacts than a conventional floor, gives a little return spring, and thus is easier on dancers' knees, ankles, etc. Last night, installation was getting bogged down due to alignment problems - the plates have to fit almost-seamlessly together, and there were seams. Since "Into The Woods" performs tonight, these issues have to be resolved today.

It's time we had a better floor for dance rehearsals. If we had such a thing in the past, a few problems could have been mitigated: that time, for example, when Kyle Hadley hit his head on the concrete floor ("Tommy," 2001), or when Dian mashed her toe during recent "Cabaret" rehearsals.

I remember when I was nearly rendered a vegetable during the first "Grease" rehearsal, in 2003. David "Turtle" Akona and I stood back-to-back, and we interlocked arms. Turtle then tried to flip me over his back, but I didn't tuck properly, and so then we were stuck, me on his back, both our heads pointing downwards to the concrete floor, with Turtle staggering around under the weight, trying to regain his balance. That was close!

Speaking of Kyle Hadley, Jan recently gave him a tour of the New Theater. I was cleaning bathrooms, but I'm not sure what it looked like to Kyle. When he first saw me, I was coming out of the backstage women's restroom. Then, when Jan showed him the main women's restroom, she opened the door, and bingo!, there I was, apparently just idling. I think Kyle thought this - strange.