Tuesday, October 20, 2009

New Jerwood DanceHouse at DanceEast has Harlequin floors


Dance floors have been provided by British Harlequin to the new Jerwood DanceHouse for DanceEast. 

DanceEast is one of a growing number of centres for dance globally that have been created to reach out to communities and act as magnets for national and international dance artists. This £8.9 million development on the Ipswich waterfront is the cultural hub of the regenerated dockside and will be the hothouse for the development and presentation of new and emerging dance talent. The DanceHouse houses three dance studios, a 200-seat flexible space studio theatre, fitness and Pilates suites, the Danceeats! cafĂ© and Dance Vibe dancewear shop.

Photo: DanceEast.

Harlequin sprung floors for Shanghai international school


Harlequin’s Hong Kong office recently supplied more than 270m² of Harlequin Liberty Sprung panels covered with a Harlequin Fiesta dance surface to the Concordia International School in Shanghai. 

New, informative publication issued by Harlequin


British Harlequin has just released a publication reviewing a number of recent installations and applications using products from the company’s range of floors for dance, stage and display. 

Published as a convenient A5 magazine style review, 
Harlequinade is colourfully illustrated throughout and showcases a diversity of flooring uses from the new Scottish Ballet HQ in Glasgow to a dance school based in a village hall in Kent. Stories range from Hollywood to Shanghai and Sydney and from dance to television. Even aerial dancers in Denver appreciate landing on a Harlequin floor it seems. 

Copies of 
Harlequinade can be requested by calling British Harlequin or by registering on the web site. 

British Harlequin Scholarship winners at Wells Weekends


British Harlequin plc has been associated with what are now known as  The Wells Weekends, since its beginnings  at Beechwood Sacred Heart School in Tunbridge Wells. Organiser Francesca Filpi now brings the story up to date. 

The Wells Summer School has an exciting new format. It is now being held over weekends, known as the Wells Weekends, the first of which took place at the end of August at the Royal Opera House. The students were very privileged to have the chance to dance in the beautiful studios used by the dancers of the Royal Ballet. The studio floors are all supplied by British Harlequin plc. Francesca Filpi, who organises the Wells courses said, “Dancers and serious students have come to expect floors of the high quality which only Harlequin can provide. Floors are something we all take for granted, until we don’t have them! Only then do we realise how much more vulnerable to injury we are, if we have to work on hard floors, not specifically constructed for ballet “.

Photo: courtesy of Francesca Filpi - taken in Clore Studio, Royal Opera House Winners of the British Harlequin Scholarships, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Laura Jane Fenney, both pupils of RBS with Francesca Filpi.

Yorkshire Ballet Summer Schools continues association with Harlequin


Harlequin’s involvement with Yorkshire Ballet Seminars dates back more than 20 years and both David Gayle, who started the Seminars and Marguerite Porter who has taken up his mantle, have always insisted on the best dance floors. This year was no exception with Harlequin Cascade and Harlequin Liberty sprung floor panels once again the preferred choice. 

Photo: Elizabeth Harrod by Sophie Harris-Taylor.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Harlequin floors for ballet performance at Sydney's Pink Ribbon Ball


When Remi Wortmeyer and Miwako Kubota stars of the Australian Ballet performed at Sydney's Pink Ribbon Ball last month they were dancing on a black Harlequin Studio dance floor.  The flooring was supplied thanks to Gunter Goetz, Managing Director of Harlequin Australasia Pty Ltd. Harlequin Studio is a hard wearing floor covering specially designed for dance, studio and stage use. The 16th Annual Pink Ribbon Ball is a fund raiser for the Sydney Breast Cancer Foundation.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Scottish Ballet opening in the news


The new Scottish Ballet facility equipped with dance floors by British Harlequin is now officially open. See the news report carried by the BBC in Scotland and STV.  All studios are furnished with Harlequin WoodSpring and completed with Harlequin Cascade vinyl dance surface.

Further information can be viewed at the Harlequin Virtual News Office.