Harvard Dance Needs Space, But Not in Allston

To the editors:

As a long-standing member of the Harvard dance community, I would like to respond to the op-ed by Benjamin J. Toff ’05 (“Will Students Be Forced To Dance in the Streets?” Dec. 9). While we greatly appreciate Toff’s astute treatment of the issue, there are a couple minor points we’d like to clarify about our position as dancers.

We are fully aware that the problem posed by the impending loss of the Rieman complex is not one caused by the current administration. This is an issue inherited, and not created, by University President Lawrence H. Summers and the current deans of FAS, a distinction we appreciate. That said, however, we maintain as Toff does that finding a resolution to the loss of Rieman and its surrounding spaces must be the obligation of an administration dedicated to the fostering of a vibrant undergraduate arts community.

What the administration needs to keep in mind is that the Rieman Center is not simply the 4,000 square feet represented by the studio space itself, but the nearly 10,000 square feet made up of the studio as well as the offices, dressing rooms and meeting spaces that are used by the dance program at large. Finding a suitable replacement for this complex of spaces will prove far more complicated than simply finding us another large room in which to rehearse and perform. This should be taken into consideration when looking at the time frame available for the construction of a new home for the dance program.

Though we fully support the notion of a new home for Harvard’s dancers, space in Allston is not a viable solution to the problem. It is unreasonable to expect that students will walk 40 minutes (or ride a shuttle for 20) each way to attend classes that are on average 60 to 90 minutes in length. In addition, many dancers take multiple classes per day, an impossibility if they are forced to commute such a great distance. While we realize that many Harvard students take shuttles to classes in the Longwood medical area for instance, it is unrealistic that the same would be done for what is essentially an extracurricular activity. This is not to say that dancers are not dedicated, this is just the reality of life as a Harvard undergraduate. Moving the performances associated with the Rieman complex to Allston would also have disastrous effects on the audiences such performances could attract. Witness the (with the exception of Harvard/Yale) abysmal attendance at Harvard sporting events, which are held only five minutes across the river. If we can’t get undergraduates to walk five minutes on a Saturday afternoon, how can we expect them to walk 40 on a Friday night? Thus, while we greatly appreciate the administration’s concern over a matter which they themselves did not create, we urge Summers not to consider Allston as an option in its resolution.

Anna K. Weiss ’03

Dec. 10, 2002

The writer is current ballet mistress and former director of the Harvard Ballet Company.