Harlequin Liberty Portable Sprung Floor Panels

What have Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio, NY and the Turbine Hall in London’s Tate Modern in common? The connection is that all three venues specified Harlequin Liberty™ sprung floor panels for dance performances and rehearsal spaces.

In their 50th, golden jubilee year, MCDC performed “Anniversary Event” as part of Dance Umbrella’s own 25th anniversary season in the unusual venue of London’s Tate Modern – a former power station, now thanks to Swiss architects, Herzog & de Meuron a much acclaimed arts venue – and in November 2003 home to a large and imaginative art installation - The Weather Project - by Icelandic/Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson used the media of light, sound, mirrors and fog to create The Weather Project in the Turbine Hall that formed the theatrical setting for MCDC’s London performances on Harlequin Liberty™ floors.

The challenge for Dance Umbrella’s Technical Director – Simon Byford – was how to convert the Tate Modern’s concrete floor into a sprung dance floor and to do this quickly, each night, for a week! Portable Liberty™ panels were chosen because they can be quickly installed and then removed for safe storage. Harlequin Liberty™ panels were specified by Will Knapp, Production Director of MCDC, who had specified the permanent version for installation in MCDC's New York studios, after being impressed when the Company first experienced them at Bard College.

The Result

Trevor Carlson, (General Manager of MCDC), Will Knapp, (Production Director of MCDC), and Simon Byford of Dance Umbrella were unanimous in their praise of the Liberty™ floor. Not only did the combination of portable panels and Harlequin storage carts solve the problem of a quick ‘get in’ and ‘get out’ each night, but the reviews of the dance indicate the artistic performances were as well received by the critics as by the sell-out audiences. ‘The dance event is made possible by one technical feature – British Harlequin’s specialist flooring. Without it, there could have been no dancing on the concrete floor’. www.thestage.co.uk ‘Cunningham .. has been generating dance in galleries, gymnasiums and railway stations since 1964 …. ensuring that the choreography is merely one element in the overall experience.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Sensually pleasing: an ethereal performance in an extraordinary environment.’ www.telegraph.co.uk .

The Solution

The performances in the Turbine Hall took place in three separate dance areas (see diagram) allowing the audience to promenade between each and indeed for the dancers to have the same flexibility of movement. When surveying the venue it became clear that the three performance areas would also need to be linked and this was achieved using a 65m strip of Harlequin Studio. The solution for the main dance areas was to use Liberty™ portable sprung floor panels and load these onto Harlequin storage carts that could be wheeled away, ensuring the panels were both easy to move and the panels safely stored. Harlequin Studio flooring was laid as the top surface and this could be rolled up and carried to the overnight storage location using Harlequin Roll Storage Bags. The choice of Harlequin Liberty™ panels was requested by MCDC, heavily influenced by their own use of the floor in their studios on Bethune Street in New York City. MCDC had first experienced Harlequin Liberty™ sprung floor panels at Bard College in New York State. As Will Knapp, Production Director of MCDC, explained, "we had been looking for a floor that allowed our dancers to concentrate on their performance on a safe and responsive surface and when we came across Liberty™ at Bard College, where their new floor had just been installed, we realised our search was over. So when MCDC was scheduled to perform at the Tate Modern, it was an obvious requirement to request the same Harlequin Liberty™ floor that we enjoy back home."

The Requirement

The Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern is a large space by any standards. The Weather Project installed in the 152 meter long hall was equally impressive and dominated by a giant artificial sun 15 meters in diameter, ingeniously created by utilising 240 low pressure sodium lamps and mirrors, illuminating the space in monochromatic light while also using stage fog effects to create clouds and mist. Because this exhibition was open daily to the public, as well as being integral to the dance performance, the floor had to be not just portable, but capable of being installed within 45 minutes each evening after the gallery closed, then after each performance removed and stored safely until the next day.

PDF Case Study 2 - Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Tate Modern, London.