An over-50s club that searched the world, then bought Australian.
Monday Club fitted out a movement and dance studio in Balmain for members aged 50 and up. They specified Kradal Smart Foam beneath Altro Wood vinyl — and the dancers noticed before anyone told them what was under there.
Chris Baynes, Monday Club & DCM Group, with instructor Paul — Balmain studio
A room where people aged 50 to 100 move freely.
Monday Club is a community club for people over 50 — strength, mobility, dance and social programs run out of a single studio in Balmain. When DCM Group fitted out the space, the floor had to do two jobs that usually pull against each other. It needed enough give to be kind to ageing joints across an hour-long class. It also needed to stay firm enough that a dancer could turn on it without the surface stealing the movement.
Most sprung floors solve the first problem by making the second one worse. Most hard-wearing commercial vinyls do the opposite. Monday Club looked internationally before specifying, and came back to a product made in Australia.
“We searched the world for the right solution and came back to Australia.”
Chris Baynes · CEO , DCM Group
"It's firm, but it's still cushioning"
Paul · Dance Instructor, Monday Club
Dancers notice the difference immediately
The clearest signal came from people with nothing invested in the decision. Members who have danced internationally told the club they had never worked on a surface like it. The instructor, a professional dancer who performs around the country, described it as unique — supportive underfoot, with enough give to be easy on the joints, without going soft.
For an operator, that matters commercially as well as clinically. As Chris Baynes puts it, the floor has become part of how the club presents itself: something members comment on, and something the club is happy to point at.
Monday Club is not an aged care facility. It is a community club whose members are largely independent and active, which makes it a useful reference for gyms, allied health clinics, retirement village common areas, dance and movement studios, and day programs — settings where the people using the room are on their feet by choice, for an hour at a time.