Harlequin Cascade dance floor for RAD conference

Performances at the Royal Academy of Dance annual conference took place on a Harlequin Cascade™ dance floor, supplied by British Harlequin plc for the event at the Mermaid Conference & Events Centre in London, attended by over 500 delegates. 

Royal Academy of Dance Chief Executive Luke Rittner opened the proceedings and guest speaker Dame Monica Mason DBE, Director of The Royal Ballet, spoke about the importance of valuing teachers. "Dance teachers play a hugely important role by inspiring, energising and guiding the young people that they teach," she told delegates. 

Eighteen students from schools across the UK put words into action by taking to the Harlequin Cascade dance floor on stage to demonstrate a range of exercises from the new syllabi. Paula Hunt, Chair of the Panel of Examiners talked the students through the demonstrations, explaining the creativity and musicality underpinning the choreography and key assessment features for each exercise. 

The programme was brought to a close with a live coaching session led by Royal Ballet Principal Dancer, Steven McRae, teaching Lachlan Monaghan, graduate year student at The Royal Ballet School who appeared by kind permission of Gailene Stock AM. 

The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is an international dance teacher education and training organisation with approximately 13,000 members in 79 countries, promoting the knowledge, practice and understanding of dance internationally through the education and training of teachers. 

Bolshoi’s sumptious set design includes the dance floor!

Photo: Courtesy of TDM

After a six year restoration project, reported to have cost a massive £1/2 billion, Moscow’s iconic Bolshoi Theatre re-opened this autumn with a glittering gala performance attended by president Dmitry Medveded and the Russian elite. Unusually, instead of unobtrusively providing a world class floor for the dancers, the Harlequin dance floor was itself an integral part of the set design for the Bolshoi Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty. 

Thanks to innovative techniques developed by Harlequin’s development engineering team, the usually plain vinyl dance surface echoed the sumptious set design with an intricate pattern designed by the Italian Designer Ezio Frigerio. 

Using advanced wide format computer controlled printing techniques, the Bolshoi’s design was digitized for printing on rolls of specially formatted white Harlequin Cascade™ vinyl. 

Extensive testing and experimentation during the development of the technique ensured the surface characteristics - so important to professional dancers - were maintained while ensuring adequate adhesion of the inks to withstand scuffing from ballet shoes. Harlequin is pleased to announce that this capability is now offered as a custom option for purchasers of their floors. 

Harlequin Cascade™ is a reinforced vinyl dance surface manufactured to high standards. It is popular with stage managers as a heavy-duty stage floor withstanding general stage use and tolerant of heavy props and also ideal for dance. A silky smooth emboss gives deceptively good grip conveying a soft feel, giving dancers an unmatched confidence for demanding choreography. The underlying Harlequin Liberty™ sprung floor comprises a series of inter-linked panels designed to provide consistent shock absorption that independent research shows minimize stress injuries for dancers. 

Harlequin sponsorship for Prix de Lausanne

Harlequin Floors, world leaders in dance floor technology continues as a sponsor for the 40th Prix de Lausanne which takes place in Switzerland from 29th January – 4th February. Competitors in this prestigious event will once again enjoy the benefit of performing on Harlequin dance floors, supplied as part of the company’s sponsorship support. 

During the 2012 Prix de Lausanne, Harlequin will also be running a Facebook based competition, with everyone registering a “Like” being entered into a prize draw and the chance to win one of 5 iPads. Full details of how to be involved can be found online or go to our Facebook page   and click ‘Like’. 

 Created in 1973, the Prix de Lausanne is an international competition for young dancers aged 15 to 18 with “a prime objective to discover, promote, and support talent among the world’s finest young dancers.” Harlequin Floors is also celebrating four years of participating in the Prix de Lausanne as sponsor of the video-blog which has become established as a favourite of the young dance community.

Harlequin sponsored the inaugural Dance Proms

British Harlequin was a sponsor of the first ever Dance Proms when the UK’s rising stars recently performed at the Royal Albert Hall. Twenty-four dance acts from around the UK danced on a Harlequin  floor at this major new national dance festival launched earlier in the year to find the UK’s most talented dance students.

“With more than 450 young dancers taking to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall, it was an evening to remember with a finale that brought the packed Hall to their feet for a standing ovation.
The young dancers showcased a huge range of dance styles and cultural influences – from classic ballroom and beautiful ballet to energetic tap, Kathak, Spanish and thought-provoking contemporary dance  Many respected guests from the world of dance were in attendance including Dame Beryl Grey DBE, Lady Deborah MacMillan, Bonnie Langford, Baroness Hooper, Steven McRae, Karen Hardy, Mark Summers, Sir Peter Wright, Kevin O'Hare, Jack Petchey CBE, Anthony Van Laast and Chris Hollins.”