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.