2008 Woodie Awards
Dance department struggles with budget
Emily Sears, Contributing Writer, esears@smu.edu
Issue date: 5/1/07 Section: News
"The facilities were 20 times better than these," he said.
According to Waldschmidt, in addition to 15 studios, Purchase has four saunas, better costuming, a staff physical therapist just for dancers and its own dance building.
SMU has three studios, one of which is too small to be used for main stage rehearsals. The division sends dancers to the Health Center or off campus for physical therapy treatment.
Purchase also uses natural lighting in its studios.
"It gave the studios an identity," Waldschmidt said.
Two of SMU's three dance studios are in the basement. The third, studio 1430, is a converted television studio. It has no windows, dim lighting, a slick floor and peeling seafoam-colored walls, making one feel like he or she is dancing under the sea in a wrecked ship.
Myra Woodruff said the division needs new studio space. She would like to see two large studios and a dance wing added to the current dance facilities.
"Additional spaces will make a lot more things possible that are challenging right now," she said.
The studios are booked at all hours of the day, so additional ones could provide rehearsal space for class and independent student projects as well as varied class times. Now an onlooker can find sweaty dancers exiting the building past midnight, following a late-night rehearsal.
Is staph still infecting the facilities? According to Woodruff, facilities hired a professional cleaning service to thoroughly clean the studios every Sunday.
When the studios appear unclean "the only thing that we can do is report it," she said.
Woodruff said studio maintenance, which is controlled by the same people who maintain all the facilities in the Owen Fine Arts Center, saves the division money because those costs aren't coming out of the division's budget. But facilities has responsibility for multiple departments, so it can't focus all its attention, or money, on dance.
"Facilities is probably a $10-and-a-half, $11-million problem," Bowen said. "Dance is probably more under pressure in all of those resources . . . in terms of facilities, operations, production budgets."
According to Waldschmidt, in addition to 15 studios, Purchase has four saunas, better costuming, a staff physical therapist just for dancers and its own dance building.
SMU has three studios, one of which is too small to be used for main stage rehearsals. The division sends dancers to the Health Center or off campus for physical therapy treatment.
Purchase also uses natural lighting in its studios.
"It gave the studios an identity," Waldschmidt said.
Two of SMU's three dance studios are in the basement. The third, studio 1430, is a converted television studio. It has no windows, dim lighting, a slick floor and peeling seafoam-colored walls, making one feel like he or she is dancing under the sea in a wrecked ship.
Myra Woodruff said the division needs new studio space. She would like to see two large studios and a dance wing added to the current dance facilities.
"Additional spaces will make a lot more things possible that are challenging right now," she said.
The studios are booked at all hours of the day, so additional ones could provide rehearsal space for class and independent student projects as well as varied class times. Now an onlooker can find sweaty dancers exiting the building past midnight, following a late-night rehearsal.
Is staph still infecting the facilities? According to Woodruff, facilities hired a professional cleaning service to thoroughly clean the studios every Sunday.
When the studios appear unclean "the only thing that we can do is report it," she said.
Woodruff said studio maintenance, which is controlled by the same people who maintain all the facilities in the Owen Fine Arts Center, saves the division money because those costs aren't coming out of the division's budget. But facilities has responsibility for multiple departments, so it can't focus all its attention, or money, on dance.
"Facilities is probably a $10-and-a-half, $11-million problem," Bowen said. "Dance is probably more under pressure in all of those resources . . . in terms of facilities, operations, production budgets."
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