Harlequin to launch new floors at ABTT Theatre Show 2016

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ABTT Technical Theatre Special – not one new product, three!

 

New silver Hi-Shine.  Photo: Chadstone

Harlequin Floors is a brand not only synonymous with trust, but also innovation. At this year’s ABTT Theatre show, Harlequin are showing off not one, but three new developments starting with an update of one of its most popular lines…

It’s Gold & Silver for Harlequin Hi-Shine

 A new ‘Metallic Range’ featuring gold and silver finishes is all set to join Harlequin’s Hi-Shine range of display floors. Already massively popular with “Saturday night” television productions, set designers, touring bands and fashion shows, the new metallic floors bring a further dimension to the wet glossy look of Harlequin Hi-Shine. Recently silver Hi-Shine was an important element in the set design for several fashion shows produced by Gloss in Melbourne, Australia. 

Harlequin Reversible Pro – the best just gets better!

When an iconic product such as Harlequin’s Reversible roll out floor for stage and dance is the subject of a new launch, you can be sure that it’s something special.

Launching this month and on public exhibition for the first time the ABTT Theatre Show is new addition - Harlequin Reversible Pro.

Known world-wide for its unique double-sided option to allow companies to change colours around, Reversible was Harlequin’s first product and has remained a best seller ever since.

Harlequin Reversible Pro retains the feature of a slip-resistant surface either side, and now thanks to a the introduction of a new fibre interplay layer, Reversible Pro offers even more dimensional stability. In

short, floors roll out and quickly lie flat – an absolute boon to busy stage technicians and touring companies. 

For set designers and production companies, Reversible Pro’s improved dimensional stability makes it a superb surface for printing.

New Stage floor is tough & hard-wearing

Yet another new product being previewed at ABTT is Harlequin Rocksure, which promises the hardest wearing yet easy to maintain stage surface so far. Thanks to the polymer composite formulation of the material, Rocksure is an alternative to Harlequin’s more traditional stage surfaces such as wood, a painted “sacrificial” layer of hardboard or heavy-duty vinyl. Harlequin Rocksure is available as an option on both new stage builds as well as stage refurbishment.  

Harlequin sets the stage for ABTT Theatre Show 2016

Harlequin Floors will be exhibiting their extensive range of flooring products and demonstrating their capability in stage construction at the ABTT Theatre Show 2016, which will take place on the 22nd and 23rd June at Alexandra Palace.  

The Harlequin brand has earned a deserved reputation in theatres world-wide for the quality and breadth of flooring products, as well as expertise and experience in stage construction and refurbishment. The Harlequin stand [A33] will be show-casing a wide range of flooring systems for the performing arts and display applications with technical experts from the company on hand to provide advice.

The Harlequin stand will be furnished with Harlequin’s glossy Hi-Shine floor, which has proved extremely popular with set designers, not only in theatre, but for TV shows, exhibitions and display purposes. Visitors will able to examine many different floor types, including printed flooring, which offers new customisation options. Harlequin also designs, supplies and installs special flooring solutions for theatre stages, television studios, exhibitions and display and is widely recognised world-wide for dance floors.

A Harlequin studio floor may be based on technology, but the installation process reveals something closer to art.

Janet Karin OAM

Janet Karin OAM, a leading dance educator and former lead dancer with the Australian Ballet, recently had the opportunity to see the expertise and skill involved in installing a new Harlequin  dance floor at first hand. Janet explained, “Of course, I knew that Harlequin's floors were top of the range, but I had no idea of the expertise that went into tailoring each individual floor. A studio floor may be based on technology, but the installation process revealed something closer to art.”

The full story of the installation of Harlequin sprung floors is described by Janet on the Harlequin blog. 

Janet concludes, “My students unreservedly love this floor. The company dancers feel able to trust their Harlequin floor in the extremely taxing choreography of the present repertoire. Judging by the way Trinity Laban’s Harlequin Liberty floor in London is unscathed after 12 years of constant use, we can expect to enjoy ours for many decades.”

Dance4 at 25 bringing world class dance facilities to Nottingham

Nottingham based Dance4 celebrates a successful 25 years this year to a new home  set to provide a fully accessible international centre for dance and choreography right in the heart of the city. Harlequin Floors played an important role in equipping the new dance studios with Harlequin  Activity floor completed with a black vinyl Standfast floor surface in Studio 1, Activity also in Studio 3, but here with a grey Standfast dance surface and for Studio 2, a Harlequin WoodSpring floor with maple surface.

Rachel Emmett, Head of Finance and Operations at Dance4 says “ We chose Harlequin because they are the industry standard for top quality, professional dance floors.  We wanted to have the best supplier to fulfil our ambition to create a world-class facility for choreography and dance.” Dance4 is an independent charity and dance development agency working with international artists who are working within 21st century choreographic practice. With 25 years experience of supporting the development of contemporary dance and choreography Dance4 believes dance is for everyone and runs an acclaimed Centre for Advanced Training in dance.

On the 31st March 2016 Dance4 held a very special Charity Celebration Benefit Gala at the wonderful location of the Council House Ballroom, in the heart of Nottingham. The great and the good from the city joined friends from further afield to celebrate Dance4’s 25th year and helped raise funds for Dance4’s international Centre for Choreography due to open this summer. The Gala featured a fabulous three-course meal accompanied by glorious entertainment all hilariously hosted by Pete Shenton from New Art Club.

Natifah White - Dance4’s Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) in Dance graduate - performed the solo that earned her a place at The Place. Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers, Tyrone Singleton and Céline Gittens, performed a mesmeric duet from Swan Lake and cheeky Spiltmilk Dance performed vignettes throughout the evening, culminating in a social dance for everyone to join in.

There were plenty of ways to fundraise throughout the evening including a ‘Silent Auction’, a ‘High-speed Hilarious Heads and Tails’ with a twist and a ‘Build a Heavenly Harlequin Dance Floor’ special raffle. Guest were given the opportunity to buy samples of Harlequin Dance floor to literally build a dance floor for the new international Centre for Choreography. Guests wrote their name on the back of their samples and handed them to students from Dance4’s CAT to lay out onto the floor to create a colourful dance floor in the centre of the resplendent Council House Ballroom. Once the samples were pieced together to create the dance floor, the fun really began, as a piece at a time was upturned to reveal the winners. The samples made a real contribution to Dance4's Campaign25 and helped raise vital funds for the new centre. 

It was a wonderful opportunity for people to feel they were contributing in a very real way by helping Dance4 to establish an exemplar creative facility whilst having great fun and winning prizes too! 

The Harlequin team is looking forward to future opportunities for working with Dance4.

Harlequin runs seminar for RADA technical students

Ray Lloyds with Neil Fraser

Recently, Harlequin Floors was invited to present a seminar session for students studying the Technical Theatre & Stage Management course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Neil Fraser, Director of Technical Training at RADA, approached Harlequin as the recognised leader in the knowledge, expertise and development of floors for the performing arts.  Some twenty students participated in the seminar day for this special training session, which was also an important compulsory module for their RADA Professional Development. 

The seminar was presented in the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre by Mark Rasmussen and Ray Lloyds, both from Harlequin Floors. Mark commenced by explaining why special floors have been developed for the performing arts for the benefit of the performers and the technical requirements and testing the floors will need to meet. Mark continued with a review of some recent stage floor projects covering both new build projects and major stage refurbishments. Then it was over to Ray for a ‘hands on’ practical session learning how to fix floor panels together, to measure out, cut and how to correctly tape down flooring. Taping covered two techniques - top and under floor taping - and demonstrated the differences between these. By the end of the day the students had gained a valuable insight into the importance of having the right floor and acquired some first hand practical skills – even taking away a reel of Harlequin tape together with product information, the ever useful gifts of pens and the indispensible tea mug. 

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) offers world-leading vocational training for actors, stage managers, directors, designers and technical stage craft specialists.

RADA was established in 1904 and has built an outstanding reputation as a world-renowned centre of excellence, offering the best possible facilities, exceptional teaching and strong links with the industries that employ our graduates. RADA’s student population is a diverse community, united by a shared passion for theatre-making. The Academy prides itself both on the professional standard of its student productions, which are attended by agents, casting directors and theatre practitioners, and on their track-record of employment in theatre, film and television.

Harlequin Partners with RAD Pop Up Events programme

Harlequin Floors is partnering with RAD to present a new series of Pop-Up Dance Events in London this summer.

The success of the Pop-Up Dance idea at the time of the Genèe last September demonstrated the feasibility of the concept and has prompted the RAD to organise more performance opportunities for members this summer. The basic idea is simple and one which belies the organisation that goes on in the background – RAD organise the venue, Harlequin lay a sprung floor, dancers turn up and perform, while the general public watch.

Announcing the partnership commitment by Harlequin Floors that has made this new series of events possible, Marketing Manager, Mark Rasmussen explained, “The public venues arranged by RAD are not dance studios or stages that enjoy the benefit of sprung dance floors. RAD is instead taking dance to the public at railway stations and in other public areas where we bring in and set up a portable sprung floor. This is essential for the safety of dancers to ensure they do not have to perform on hard, unyielding surfaces. The Harlequin Liberty floor we install comprises a number of modular sprung panels which latch together to form a continuous floor that can be reconfigured to suit the different spaces.”

The venues announced are:-

• Friday 8 July at Broadgate Circle, City of London (next to Liverpool Street Station).
• Saturday 23 July at Canada Square Park, Canary Wharf, London.
• Saturday 22 October at King’s Cross Station, London.

RAD Director of Fundraising and Development Matthew Cunningham said, “We’re excited to be bringing dance back to the streets of London in partnership with Harlequin Floors. Not only is this a unique performance opportunity for many young dancers, we hope we’ll also surprise and delight a few unsuspecting audiences along the way.”

Mark concluded, “Our partnership with RAD dates back more than 25 years. It has developed over the years through a shared interest in the success, well-being and general welfare of dancers.”

Visit Harlequin Floors at Leeds exhibition

Harlequin Floors will once again be exhibiting at the PLASA Focus event to be held at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, on 10th and 11th May 2015, where Harlequin’s stand (R-C12), will feature floors for theatre, dance and events. 



On show will be a wide range of examples from Harlequin’s extensive portfolio of floors for the performing arts. Visitors will able to examine many different floor types with expert support on hand to provide guidance and advice. Harlequin is experienced in stage construction for refurbishment work or new build and works with architects and theatre planners designing stages for many types of theatrical space.  Harlequin Floors also offers special flooring solutions for television studios, exhibitions and display and of course is widely recognised as world leaders in floors for dance.
Recent stage floor projects have included important new theatres, stage replacement in existing venues, stages for cruise ships, schools and rehearsal spaces. Other requirements have included ballet wagons and special printed vinyl floors as an integral part of the set design. 



PLASA Focus: Leeds is billed as “the essential event for entertainment technology in the north of England.”