Both Dance Office staff and student dancers worry about the potential pitfalls of moving Harvard’s Dance Program to the Quad. “I hope the beautiful space will draw people out to the Quad,” Bergmann says with a smile, “If a student center is developed at Hilles, we could have a wonderful community environment.”

On the other hand, University expansion into Allston—farther away from the Quad—has student performers, including myself, worried about whether a beautiful facility will be enough to draw audiences all the way up Garden Street in future years, especially when we have received no information about whether Allston will include dance facilities. At rehearsals and dance classes, I have periodically heard dancers express concerns that while the campus’ center seems to be headed across the river, the student performing groups are being stranded in the Quad.

The new dance center in the QRAC will feature a state-of-the-art performance space which will double as a large dance studio, as well as offices for Dance Program administrative staff and an additional smaller dance studio.

The Dance Program will continue to utilize its other studio, Director’s Studio, which is located in the OFA building at 74 Mt. Auburn St.

While the new dance center at the QRAC will have one more studio than the Rieman Center, Bergmann doubts that this will be an adequate increase in available space. “If we had eight studios open from 4 p.m. to midnight, I bet they would all be filled,” says Bergmann. I am all too familiar with the problem of insufficient dance space, having resorted several times to holding rehearsals in small common rooms, hallways, and even my bedroom. “But what university has the luxury of eight studios?” Bergmann laments, “Space is a huge issue for dance on campus everywhere, not just at Harvard.”

Student and alumni dancers share Bergmann’s concerns about sufficient dance space on campus. Alumnus and longtime dancer Yamaguchi hopes that the University administration will not limit its support in expanding performance and rehearsal space to this current construction project.

“We still need more performance and studio space,” he says. “I hope the administration recognizes that there is a strong student interest in the arts, in dance, and responds adequately.”

While I must admit I share Yamaguchi’s desire for continued administrative support, in view of the realities of the school’s fiscal limitations, I am more concerned about the lack of foresight in selecting the location of the new space.

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION

Student dancers’ concerns about insufficient rehearsal space may be partially due to the recent rapid growth in their sheer numbers. Bergmann says that when the OFA last investigated dance participation at Harvard in fall of 2002, they estimated participation in Harvard’s 23 student dance groups and various open classes to be 700 undergraduates, an astonishing 10 percent of the undergraduate population. She estimates that an up-to-date count would reveal an even larger number. In the past five years, enrollment in the OFA’s dance classes alone has doubled to approximately 400.

Since the OFA classes that I and other undergraduates take are also open to graduate students and other Harvard affiliates, this enrollment increase is not due to undergraduate interest alone. However, the majority of class-takers are undergraduates. Hilby says that several years ago her student committee estimated that approximately 20 percent of female undergraduates participate in dance classes or student dance groups.

Harvard Dance Program Coordinator Susan Larson says that she believes more would probably attend if their schedules fit the class times.

In addition to this explosion of students pursuing dance on campus, Harvard’s Dance Program has also experienced an increase in national attention. The newest student dance group, Harvard Contemporary Dance Ensemble (HCDE)—established and directed by Bergmann herself—has received an impressive set of honors.

At last year’s American College Dance Festival (ACDFA), a trio choreographed by Alaly was selected to be performed at ACDFA’s national gala in June 2004. And last summer, HCDE was also invited to perform at the legendary Jacob’s Pillow Theater in Becket, MA, one of the most well-regarded modern dance venues, a highly unusual accomplishment for non-professional student dancers.

Beyond simply supporting the dance events administrated by the Dance Program, Yamaguchi stresses the need for student-run groups to be supported and publicized just as strongly as Dance Program-run projects like Dancer’s Viewpointe and HCDE.