She says dancers will pressure the administration to find a replacement.

“Harvard needs to find space. It’s that plain and simple,” she says.

Yamaguchi says he is concerned that the University will not put in the money to maintain Rieman as a quality dance space in its remaining three years of student use.

“Basically the space is going to deteriorate,” he says.

No Clear Solution

With a space crunch facing all student extracurriculars on campus, however, it is unclear where the dance community will go.

Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth ’71, OFA Director Jack Megan and Bergmann say they have begun the search for a replacement spot.

Illingworth says they haven’t found any answers.

“The college considers finding a dance space to replace Rieman to be a very important priority,” he writes in an e-mail. “While we do not yet have a definite solution, no one is forgetting how important this is.”

But Bergmann says she anticipates difficulties.

She says that all the sites they’ve examined so far—which administrators declined to name—would require an expensive renovation and would force out its current occupants.

With the University’s developing space in Allston, some students and faculty wonder if the dance program might eventually find its home across the River.

“Obviously Allston could be a helpful alternative at some point, but we’re not counting on it to solve the problems by ’05,” Illingworth writes.

But Bergmann says Allston is not an appropriate location for the OFA’s dance program.

“I just don’t think it would work,” she says. “We’re basically saying it’s too far to go to class; it would ruin our program.”