Harlequin to present floor health matters talk at dance teachers’ conference

Mark Rasmussen, Harlequin Group Marketing Manager will be talking about floors and health matters tomorrow, at the first ever International Dance Teachers’ Conference currently taking place at The Royal Ballet School in London.

Sponsored by Harlequin, the International Dance Teachers’ Conference is described as “four days of inspiration, innovation and imagination.” The conference opened last night with a glittering Gala Evening featuring top calibre performers including Wayne Sleep, Steven McRae, Sarah Lamb, Lizzie Gough and Two and a Half Men. “What an incredible lineup!” commented Mark and “oh yes, they all performed their magic on Harlequin Cascade”.

Addressing the conference Tuesday morning, Mark will turn to the subject of dancers’ health and the importance of a good quality sprung floor in helping reduce the high levels of injury associated with dancing on hard, unyielding floors. His presentation will recognize the outcomes of research studies correlating the contribution of a sprung floor with providing a safer working environment for dancers.

Charity dance event to be staged on Harlequin sprung floor

The Gary Avis & Friends Charity Gala event in aid of The Hunger Project. is due to take place at the Ipswich Regent Theatre on Sunday 11th September. A Harlequin Liberty sprung floor used in conjunction with black Harlequin Reversible dance surface will be installed for the performance.

Gary Avis is a Principal Character Artist and also Ballet Master at the Royal Ballet. Bryony Wells of The Hunger Project explains, “the performance, which will be hosted by Angela Rippon involves 10 Principal Dancers from the Royal Ballet and we therefore need to put in place a good sprung floor.” She continued, “Harlequin provided the floor for an event involving the Royal Ballet last year in Lagrasse, and all the dancers were very happy with this floor. Additionally, Gary Avis teaches at the Wells Summer Schools at which a Harlequin floor is used, and has been very impressed with it.”

Tickets for the event are still available from the box office of the Ipswich Regent Theatre.

Expressions Dance Company scoops Harlequin sponsored award in Australia

Expressions Dance Company won the Harlequin sponsored ‘Outstanding Performance by a Company Award’ for Where the Heart Is, at the 2011 Australian Dance Awards, held in Brisbane.

Natalie Weir, Artistic Director of EDC and choreographer of Where the Heart Is said "EDC was both proud and humbled to be awarded in a category with such amazing artists and companies from around Australia. Where the Heart Is was a joyous journey for the creative team" she added.

Where the Heart Is was nominated by the judges "for the dancers’ beauty and technical excellence in telling a powerful emotional story with great characterisation and intensity".

Taking two further awards on the night were dancer Amy Hollingsworth and choreographer Rafael Bonachela, both from Sydney Dance Company.

‘Outstanding Performance for a Female Dancer’ was awarded to Amy for Irony of Fate for her “outstanding technique articulation, clever variation of dynamics and powerful stage presence; an exceptional artist”.

Rafael Bonachela’s award meanwhile, in the ‘Outstanding Achievement in Choreography’ category, was for 6 Breaths. Cited for "a delicate combination of skill and vision to create an exquisitely crafted beautifully balanced work; for a wonderful collaboration with video artist and musician".

Harlequin Group Marketing Manager, Mark Rasmussen who was on hand to congratulate the winners said "… just a few days earlier I had been in Sydney filming an interview with Rafael about his new Harlequin floors and the next thing I knew I was in Brisbane applauding his win. Congratulations not only to all the winners on the night, but to all the nominees given that the standard of the shortlists were so incredibly high. What a wonderful celebration of Australian dance."

Photos:

Expressions Dance Company's Richard Causer, photo by Justin Nicholas, Atmosphere Photography.

Natalie Weir, Artistic Director of EDC winners of Outstanding Performance by a Company award.

Winners Amy Hollingsworth & Rafeal Bonachela both of Sydney Dance Company with Mark Rasmussen, Group Marketing Manager Harlequin (centre).

"We could only have the best" for Sydney Dance Company

In a soon to be published video interview, choreographer and Artistic Director of Sydney Dance Company, Rafael Bonachela explains the reasons why Harlequin Australasia recently installed Harlequin Cascade™ and Harlequin Studio™ in their four rehearsal studios. "We chose Harlequin floors for our studios because we had to have the best," he said. The interview reveals why Harlequin was chosen, how the installation proceeded and most importantly, what the dancers think of the new floors.

The full interview will be published on the Harlequin YouTube channel next month and streamed through their website.

Rafael Bonachela moved to Sydney in 2009 after many years with the Rambert Dance Company in London. A few days after the interview, Rafael collected the Outstanding Achievement in Choreography award at the 2011 Australian Dance Awards in Brisbane for his work "6 Breaths".

Photos:

Guenther Goetz of Harlequin Australasia with Rafael Bonachela.

Harlequin Group Marketing Manager, Mark Rasmussen with Rafael Bonachela.

Rafael Bonachela being interviewed.

The first international ballet competition in Beijing sponsored by Harlequin Floors

Harlequin, world leaders in dance floor design, were proud to be a sponsor of the first annual Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition and to have provided the sprung floor for the main stage.

Hosted by the National Centre for the Performing Arts and strongly supported by China's Ministry of Culture, 80 dancers competed in the classical ballet and choreography contest. Judged by an international panel drawn from 10 different countries, the panel included Tamara Rojo, the Royal Ballet's principal dancer, appearing in a judging role for the first time.

Harlequin Liberty™ sprung floor panels with a Harlequin Cascade™ dance surface allowed the contestants to perform with the total confidence that comes with knowing you are dancing on a first class sprung floor.

Madame Zhao Ruheng, former artistic director of the National Ballet of China,now Artistic Director of Dance at the National Centre of Performing Arts, said that she envisioned the event with the help of Frank Andersen, artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. Zhao and Andersen first met at a competition in Korea and talked about hosting a Chinese event for years. "Now, our dream has come true, " Madame Zhao said.

Renowned Finnish ballerina Doris Laine, who chaired the ballet portion of the competition, first visited Beijing 21 years ago. She said the Beijing event has the potential to grow into an influential world contest…like the city's grown."

Covent Garden Dance Company in Wiltshire

Salisbury Life features a story about a boutique ballet event in the grounds of a Wiltshire country house that will be performed on a Harlequin dance floor.

The Royal Ballet to debut at O2 on Harlequin floors

The Royal Ballet is set for a three-day residency this weekend at London’s O2 arena. The venue more typically home to pop concerts will be bringing ballet to large audiences and of course be danced on Harlequin floors. Performing Kenneth Mac Millan’s timeless classicRomeo and Juliet "this will be the first time the world renowned ballet company has performed in a UK arena and promises to be a ballet spectacle to remember."

"The Royal Ballet, usually based at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, will move lock, stock and barrel into the arena for these special performances which will feature a filmed introduction to each Act, on giant, live-relay screens, as well as the virtuoso performances from one of finest ballet companies in the world.” Previous tours have been performed in the relative intimacy of theatres and not to audiences in a 20,000 seat arena. It is claimed that “there has never been a moment like this in the history of British ballet".

Dance floors being used by The Royal Ballet are Harlequin Cascade™ which is ideally suited to temporary installation on tour and Harlequin Reversible™ equally suited to "loose-lay" applications but with a slip resistant surface on both sides allowing alternate colour options.