In Search of Marley

Last night my brother and I went to his new ballet studio in Orchard Park, New York, to do some more finishing work. After installing the flooring, he realized he should have put foam underneath, which gives the floor more spring and more cushion. It’s better for the dancers’ bodies. So we went back and rolled up the vinyl flooring that he refers to as Marley flooring, although he just calls it the “Marley.” It’s like a roll of rubber mat, black on one side, grey on the other.
We’ve already reset the Marleys in my brother’s first two studios, and now we’ve set the Marley in the new studio twice. He also has a portable Marley for his off-site performances, and it’s a heavier grade than the kind he uses in his studios. Dealing with Marley flooring is a hell of a job, but it goes with the territory of dance and dance studios and dance performances. You have to make sure there are no air bubbles or pockets, and you have to make sure the seams are as aligned as you can get them before you start taping them together. You use a special kind of tape that usually matches the color of your Marley. A dancer could slip or trip on a loose flap or a bulge and hurt herself. Since I’ve been here in Buffalo I’ve now dealt with more Marleys than I can keep track of. Last night, on my hands and knees for what felt like the umpteenth time and again putting down a Marley floor, I thought, Who or what the hell is Marley anyway? And what the heck is it?
It is calendered vinyl, as it turns out. To calender something means to feed it through heated rollers in order to give it a smooth and glossy finish. Calender is a corruption of the word cylinder, which comes from the Greek kylindros, which itself comes from kyklos, or "cycle; wheel. " You can get calendered silk and calendered cotton. I picture a kind of huge pasta machine, and also imagine that taffy and marzipan can be calendered. As for Marley, the name refers to the original manufacturing firm, which started in 1948 in Kent, England, and was later merged with another textiles company. I'm guessing that it was started by someone named Marley; there was no further information on the Marley company website.

In my search for more information about Marley Ltd. I also found a website called flooradvice.com. Flooradvice.com is a product information website, and according to its FAQs page, “dance surface floors made from vinyl and linoleum are often referred to as ‘Marley’ floors; this is the same as referring to all tissue as ‘Kleenex’ or referring to all sodas as ‘Coke.’ Actually, the original vinyl surface floor made by Marley for the entertainment industry stopped being produced around 1978, so it is truly doubtful that anyone is dancing on a ‘true Marley floor’ at this point in time.”
Flooradvice.com also has a page about a Marley-type floor called Primafloor, as in prima ballerina. “The most durable dance vinyl available,” Primafloor is “dimensionally stable.” My recent experience with vinyl floors leads me to believe that this means that Primafloor is less vulnerable to stretching or buckling or bubbling. Whether I'd be able to install a Primafloor remains to be seen, but I’m most interested in the product on flooradvice.com called "Divafloor." I clicked the link, but the product information on Divafloor isn't available and is "coming soon.” Just like a diva, to be coming soon, and probably also not dimensionally stable.