A Guide to Laying and Striking Marley

28 Apr 2019

Marley: A Guide to Laying a Dance Floor

Marley is a type of dance floor. It allows dancers to move easily across the deck and offers more give, resulting in higher and more efficient jumps. Marley comes in heavy vinyl strips. These strips are about four feet wide and span the length of the stage. To both lay out and strike marley, you need at least two people. Ideally, you have a crew of four: two to tape down a strip while the other two prep the next strips.

The Performance Hall’s marley is stored on pieces of white PVC pipe backstage left. When the flooring is down, the empty rolls can live backstage left, preferably upstage and out of the way. To lay the marley you’ll start offstage right. When rolling it back up you’ll start offstage left. The bottom of the marley will be on the outside of the roll; make sure the correct side is face up.

Before marley is laid out, the stage should be swept thoroughly. The Performance Hall’s marley is cut into seven panels (1 = upstage, 7 = downstage apron). Each is labeled. If for some reason you can’t find the label, relabel it using gaff tape and a sharpie, ensuring that the label is on the downstage edge of the panel.

When laying marley, you should begin with #7 and #6, placing them in such a way that as much of the downstage edge of the stage is covered as possible without going over the edge. From there, each subsequent piece’s downstage edge should line up more or less with the upstage edge of the piece you just laid out. Try not to cover any of the panel locking drop holes so you can still lock them into place if needed.

To lay a marley floor you will need: marley tape, scissors/a blade, at least one buddy, knee pads(optional). While Marley tape is black like gaff tape, it is smooth and shiny in texture. When you need to cut tape, use scissors or a blade. Don’t try to tear the marley tape, it’s not worth the effort.

For both laying and striking the marley the wings stage left and right should be open, although you will often have to close them when laying and rolling particular strips of marley. The marley will lie underneath the wings. Be careful when sliding the marley under each panel; go too far and you’ll hit a hinge and need to readjust. Be aware that the Performance Hall’s stage is trapezoidal. The upstage wall is shorter than the downstage edge and the marley is cut to match this.

Laying Marley
Beginning the process:

• With another person, move the roll of marley labeled #7 to the stage right, downstage corner. The rolls are very heavy, so be careful and work in a team.
• Place the marley onto the floor so the edge with the label is downstage.
• Remove the pieces of tape holding the roll together. If any tape goo is left on the marley, clean it before laying it down.
• Unroll the marley fully by pushing the roll across the stage.
• Before taping the downstage edge, place the next roll, #6, just upstage of #7 and unroll. Align them so that as little of the downstage edge as possible is showing, though some will still inevitably be visible.
• Anchor the stage left and right ends using two strips of tape on the corners and pulling the panel tightly from one side while a friend pulls tightly from the other side. Quickly tape the edges down.
• Store the PVC pipes on the shelves past the stage manager console.

Taping lengthwise:

• Tape the seam between #6 and #7 before taping the downstage edge.
• Start offstage right and work your way stage left as a team (or vice versa). Whichever side you choose to tape from, stick to that side for the entire marley lay.
• Tech A will hold the tape down while the Tech B creates a long stretch of slack. Tech B should ensure to not stop at center stage.
• Before touching the tape down, Tech B (while holding the roll) will stretch it taut.
• Once taut, Tech B will carefully lay it down so that it covers the seam entirely.
• Tech A will then smooth out that section (moving toward Tech B) using either your shoe or the flat end of a broom and check for any irregularity.
• Continue this process across the length of the stage.
• Once you have taped the seam between #6 and #7, one tech can tape the downstage edge as neatly as possible and being sure to cover the edge of the stage.
• Continue this process with the remaining panels of marley, working your way upstage in reverse numerical order. Ideally, while Techs A and B are taping a panel, Techs C and D should be prepping the next panel, laying the rest of the panels out in order.

If for some reason you have irregularity, you must fix the issue. Irregularity can create dangerous situations for dancers who are unaware of the problem.

• If the marley is overlapping under the tape, either press it out or lift up and start again.
• If there is a bubble in the marley, stomp it out in the direction you’re taping. (#7 has several bubbles that are permanent; this is from years of use, and you will reasonably not be able to straighten it out. Fortunately, no one dances on this panel as it is too far downstage, so it is not too much of a concern.)
• If your roll runs out of tape, cut that edge straight, tape it down and grab a new roll. Line up the new piece of tape carefully to ensure clean overlap.

Congratulations! You just laid your own dance floor! Only one more thing to do before you take a break: dry sweep and mop the marley flooring. Use a bit of the Floor Cleaner in your bucket of water but nothing else.

Before every rehearsal or performance on marley, the stage must be swept and then mopped. Mop in smooth figure eights across the stage pulling the dirt toward you and not out away from you. Clean one strip at a time. When you’ve pulled all the dirt to one end of the stage, use the mop to pick up the dirt and deposit it into the water bucket. Do not walk on the marley until it is dry. In order to dry the marley faster, bring all the lights that hit the marley to full.

Marley is usually used alongside soft goods. Always roll marley out before hanging any goods. When you need to sweep and mop the marley while soft goods are in, fly the goods out about a foot. This will allow you to clean the entire floor.

Striking the Marley
If there are soft goods that touch the floor (i.e. legs) that are also going to be struck, take them down first. Then:

• Sweep and mop one last time. Wait for the marley to dry. DO NOT roll the marley up if it is wet. In order to speed up the drying process, bring all lights that hit the marley to full.
• Remove all of your tape. (Make a giant tape ball, if you’d like! Play with it, name it, take it home, and shower it with unconditional love. Don’t shower with it.)
• Collect your PVC pipes. Always roll panels stage right to stage left.
• Make sure you are rolling the marley on the pipe in a way that will allow you to maintain a straight line the entire length of the floor. One side should always be flush with the pipe edge but not overextending over the end of the pipe edge.
• There is some flexibility if the strip hangs over the edge of the PVC pipe, but the roll should not look like a cone when you reach the end.
• If it looks good and your edge is fairly straight, you’re ready to tape the rolled up marley to itself (top, center, and bottom).
• Double check that it has not lost its label. If it has, make a new one.
• With a buddy, place the metal pipe through the PVC pipe and carry the roll of marley back to its assigned shelf location (see diagram below).