New South dance studio location gets mixed reviews

In anticipation of new construction, the University moved one of its dance studios to New South, close to the planned Arts and Transit Neighborhood, in hopes of consolidating the dance program at one location.

However, with the future of the neighborhood now unlikely, the University is left with an isolated dance studio over half a mile from the Lewis Center for the Arts at 185 Nassau Street, where the majority of the dance program is concentrated.

Now, the isolation of the New South dance studio without the promise of an eventual neighborhood is causing inconveniences, several arts students said.

“It’s definitely disjointed to have this studio over here and the others at 185,” said Meghan Todt ’11, who takes dance classes at the University. “It would also just [be] a wonderful thing to have facilities in one place, to have this common space that the proposed Arts and Transit Neighborhood was supposed to offer.”

Todt is also a Street staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Gary Holubar ’13, who is a member of Princeton University Ballet and DiSiac Dance Company and takes dance classes at the University, also said that the relocation of the dance studio to New South now appears pointless.

“It seems to be an illogical arrangement to have two very separate centers,” Holubar explained. “I was definitely disappointed to hear that the Arts and Transit Neighborhood has been cancelled.”

However, both Todt and Holubar said that, despite the inconvenience, the relocation of the studio is not affecting the quality of or the enrollment for the program.

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“I think people who want to dance are going to dance,” Todt said. “No matter where it is.”

Holubar explained that people who use the dance studios, including the one now located at New South, are “already involved fairly heavily” in the dance community and are not likely to be deterred by the location of a studio.

In fact, from the perspective of the Lewis Center, the new studio is enhancing the dance program.

“The Program in Dance is thrilled to have the wonderful, large new dance studio with warm-up rooms and lockers at New South, as well as the additional office space for our faculty to use while teaching there,” Lewis Center director of communications Marguerite d’Aprile-Smith said in an e-mail, explaining that the statement came from members of the dance faculty. “In order to expand our course offerings, the dance program needed additional studio space,” she added.

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Other students said that, despite its isolated location, the new studio at New South offers distinct advantages to the program.

“They’re open all the time,” Samantha Miller ’13, who takes dance classes five times each week, said of the New South facilities. “[When] I want to do anything on my own, it’s really convenient.”

Miller added that she did not feel the new location was isolated.

“Technically, the Berlind Theatre is over there, and we perform there often, and there are studios in Jadwin [Hall], Whitman [College and] Wilcox [Hall],” she said. “There are studios everywhere.”

Todt said that she could see the new studio staying where it is, as the increased space has been an advantage to the program. “It worked well this year, having that extra space,” she added.

April Hu ’14, who dances in Sympoh, said that she actually likes having an additional “isolated” dance studio.

“When you dance, your music’s going to be really loud, so to have it isolated from the rest of the area makes it so that you won’t disturb [other people],” she explained. “If you look at Wilcox’s dance studio, people complain all the time that you are being loud ... [but] you want to be able to feel the beat when you move.”

Though both Princeton Borough and Township officials have indicated that they are open to continuing discussions about the University’s construction plans, the University has yet to propose alternate plans for an Arts and Transit Neighborhood.

“I’m very sad to think that we’re not going to be able to build near the McCarter Theatre complex,” Paul Muldoon, chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts, said. “The Alexander site was really going to be perfect not only for us but, we truly believe, the wider community. We’ve gone back to the drawing board and are pursuing other possibilities.”