Dancers Call for Fifth Slot on Mainstage

Six students calling themselves the "Steering Committee on Dance" submitted a 70-page report to Harvard administrators Monday, asking that a new slot on the Loeb Mainstage be reserved yearly for a dance production.

Undergraduates currently produce four shows a year on the Mainstage. The committee proposes adding a dance show to the lineup, for a total of five student productions a year.

According to the proposal, a new dance slot could be added in the month of May, pushing back the opening of the professionally-produced American Repertory Theatre (ART) summer show one week.

"In the long term, we desire a two-week performance run on the Mainstage," the proposal said.

The proposal's authors said they hope their plan will gain more attention for an art form they say has been under-recognized in the past.

This is an issue of extreme importance to the school. It speaks directly to creativity and artistry," said Diana R. Movius '03, one of the proposal's authors. "Dance is the only art form in the school that is currently marginalized."

The report also calls for the establishment of an umbrella dance committee, comprised of elected undergraduates. Similar in structure to the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC), the group would read choreographers' applications and choose a show for the dance slot.

Members of the steering committee delivered the report Monday to President Neil L. Rudenstine, Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, Director of the Loeb Drama Center Robert J. Orchard and other University administrators.

Although six undergraduate dancers authored the report, 25 student groups including the HRDC, the Kumba Singers and the Mozart Society Orchestra, have signed onto the committee's demands for a slot on the Mainstage.

Elizabeth M. Darst '00, said Dean of College Harry R. Lewis '68 and Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth '71 helped the group construct the proposal.

"They shepherded us in this process," Darst said.

Illingworth said he and Lewis gave their express support and guidance to the students.

"They gave me the text to look at, and [Lewis] too," he said. "I would love to see them get their slot, and I hope they can get the folks at the [American Repertory Theatre] to do it."

Alhough Harvard owns the Loeb Drama Center on Brattle Street, the University allows the American Repertory Theatre (ART), a professional drama company directed by Orchard, to use the building for its performances.

The ART in turn allows undergraduates to put up four productions a year in the theater.

The HRDC chooses the shows to play on the Mainstage from a pool of applications.

When the ART re-located to Cambridge from New Haven in 1979, Harvard had hoped it was acquiring a professional theater company to help train students in drama.

But the relationship between the ART and Harvard has been strained in recent years, with students clamoring for more access to the Mainstage and the ART eager to keep its own stage time.

Orchard, who ultimately controls Mainstage time, holds a Faculty of Arts and Sciences appointment, but does not report to a College administrator. He could not be reached for comment last night.

Though Lewis and Illingworth each received copies of the report Monday, their support for the proposal has already been secured. According to Illingworth, the report is aimed not at College administrators, but at the ART.

The report includes a list of individuals--including Orchard, Lewis and Illingworth--who could sit on a new "Task Force on Dance at Harvard," that would hammer out the details of a fifth undergraduate Mainstage slot.

Such a committee would meet amidst a reshuffling of theater space on campus.

Recent changes in the space available for undergraduate productions will force administrators to reevaluate how theater space is allocated. Last year's merger between Radcliffe College and Harvard University means that the new Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study will soon have the right to appropriate Agassiz Theatre and the Riemann Dance Center for Institute use.

To ease the crunch, the College has recently acquired the Hasty Pudding Theater. College control of the building could give administrators leverage over the ART, as the professional company currently uses the Pudding for its productions when undergraduates are on the Mainstage.

Theater space will be more tight than usual over the next two years, while the College completes a full renovation of the Pudding theater. During this time, the traditional Hasty Pudding drag show will be looking for a temporary home, giving the ART leverage of its own.

In addition to its request for a Mainstage slot, the dance proposal also includes a narrative about the history of dance at Harvard, a discussion of current challenges facing dancers and Crimson coverage of the ongoing College space crunch.