Dance4 Competitors

Debbie Moore founded Pineapple Dance Studios in 1979 in Covent Garden. Today Pineapple is a leading global global lifestyle brand and Pineapple leisure wear for adults and kids is available to buy direct online from Pineapple, Covent Garden and major online retailers and catalogues. Official Pineapple merchandise includes apparel, dance bags and fitness accessories. Debbie Moore OBE, founder of Pineapple Dance Studios, began her journey by winning the Honey Magazine modelling competition at the age of 15, becoming an international model and being the first woman to list her company on the London Stock Exchange. Debbie founded the Dance Studios in 1979 in a disused Pineapple warehouse in Covent Garden. Her aim was to make dance accessible to everyone, where absolute beginners could mix with professional dancers and celebrities. Inspired by the dancers’ style Debbie developed Cotton/Lycra with DuPont and was the first fashion designer to use the versatile fabric for dance wear, followed by bodies, leggings, dresses and skirts. These items revolutionised fashion and helped to create the global Pineapple brand that continues to be a staple of every woman’s wardrobe today. With her Hepburn range she became the first to produce outerwear using Cotton/Lycra. Originally as a fit model herself, Debbie’s first hand experience meant she was able to structure each piece she designed to be functional and flattering, whilst emphasising the female form. Pineapple dance wear was the first fashion and lifestyle dance brand to cut leotards in a way which emphasised waists and necklines and designing tracksuit bottoms to flatter hips and legs.

We have three theatres in London – Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Lilian Baylis Studio and Peacock Theatre – and present dance online on Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage. We also tour productions nationally and internationally. In 2023 we’re opening a fourth venue in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This new space will house a 550-seat mid-scale theatre, as well as facilities for a choreographic centre and a hip hop theatre academy.

The Place, London’s creative powerhouse for dance development, has been leading the way in dance training, creation and performance for 50 years. In a changing landscape, our vision for the future remains steadfast: We are powering imagination through dance, championing new ideas, embracing risks and creating a dance ecosystem unlike any other in the world, with optimal conditions for dance artists and enthusiasts to realise their full potential. The Place is home to London Contemporary Dance School, an extensive theatre and artist development programme, education projects, a range of classes and courses and a nationwide touring model. As a pioneering dance organisation, we are committed to creating no-barriers access to exciting dance experiences and opportunities for everybody, offering a diverse and dynamic theatre programme for audiences, empowering artists and dance makers and giving young people access to the highest quality opportunities to touch their lives with dance. theplace.org.uk