Royal Ballet & Opera

The Royal Ballet & Opera has been a client of Harlequin for over 30 years, working together on various productions using a range of Harlequin sprung and vinyl performance floors.

The Royal Ballet & Opera auditorium has a solid theatre stage which is mostly used during the opera productions. When the Royal Ballet needs to rehearse and perform on the main stage, the stage crew changes the floor using a ballet wagon with bespoke Harlequin Liberty sprung floor panels.

The ballet wagon allows for an easy transition between a rigid theatre stage for opera and a sprung floor for ballet. Stuart Robertson, Assistant Technical Director at Royal Ballet & Opera, said: “When the ballet dancers come onto the stage they know that the flooring is always the same sprung floor. I think this is very important for us in order to provide that confidence across the technical teams and the dance companies.”

The Royal Ballet & Opera studios have a Harlequin sprung floor with a Harlequin Cascade performance top surface. Emma Wilson, Director of Technical, Production & Costume at Royal Ballet & Opera, said: “A sprung floor means that we’ve got the safety of our dancers and the quality of their performance at the forefront of our minds.”

One of the five studios, the Clore Studio, is a key space for rehearsals and for performances by visiting companies due to the seating tiers.

As well as the theatre auditorium that is home to various opera and ballet productions throughout each season, there is the Linbury Theatre inside the opera house. This year Harlequin worked with the Royal Ballet & Opera on a production of Dark With Excessive Bright in the Linbury Theatre. 

The Dark With Excessive Bright production consisted of three custom designed stages, all with a Harlequin Liberty sprung floor, in a teardrop-like shape. The Royal Ballet & Opera chose a Harlequin Cascade vinyl performance floor for the three stages and a Harlequin Reversible Pro performance vinyl floor underneath and in between each stage.

A number of the Royal Ballet & Opera productions require a Harlequin printed floor. For its Like Water for Chocolate production, Harlequin supplied two sets of printed Harlequin Cascade vinyl floor.

Harlequin is proud of the continued partnership with the Royal Ballet & Opera and look forward to collaborating and working together in 2025.

Cinderella photography: Andrej Uspenski