After canceling its spring tours and eight-week season at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House due to COVID-19, ABT decided to send its dancers a gift: a piece of vinyl flooring from Harlequin Floors. Although company members might be confined to dancing at home for the foreseeable future, at least they’ll have the proper surface. The floor ABT sent to its dancers is Harlequin’s Cascade surface—the same one the company uses in its studios and onstage.

ABT director of production James Whitehill says the idea to send its dancers flooring came from corps de ballet member Luigi Crispino, who found out that Harlequin was selling small sections for home studios. Crispino asked if company management could help the dancers navigate that process.

“The dancers will be able to keep them for good,” says Whitehill, “and use them hopefully not during another pandemic, but during happier times when they’re just looking for something to do on the weekends.”

Dance Magazine | ABT & Other Companies Ship Their Dancers Pieces of Harlequin Floors