Dancers Protest Loss of Rieman

Faced with the loss of their historic Rieman Dance Center home in 2005, Harvard’s dancers are now calling on the College to keep the Rieman Center dance space or to build a new facility.

Members of the dance community circulated a letter over e-mail lists this weekend urging students to lobby University President Lawrence H. Summers and Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby in support of their cause.

“We have determined that losing this space, without a comparable facility to move into immediately after its reacquisition, will decimate the Harvard Dance Program and thereby profoundly damage Harvard’s artistic community at large,” the letter reads.

The College currently leases Rieman from Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, which recently confirmed its plan to convert Rieman into a meeting space.

The letter suggests administrators form a student-faculty committee to consider renegotiating the lease or building a new, state-of-the-art performance space.

Last night, about 25 dancers met in the Agassiz Theatre to plan ways to petition the administration—including a Science Center postering campaign, letter-writing or inviting Summers to a dance performance.

“We need to get as much energy around this as possible,” said Adrienne M. Minster ’04, a dancer who helped organize the meeting.

Ryuji Yamaguchi ’03, another dancer leading the group’s lobbying effort, said he hopes to make administrators aware of the large contingent of people using Rieman. More than 600 students are currently involved in dance at Harvard.

But Radcliffe leaders say they won’t change their plans.

“We are committed to reclaiming the use of Rieman for the fellowship program,” says Radcliffe Executive Dean Louise M. Richardson. “The plan is absolutely essential for Radcliffe to become the best institute for advanced study in the world.”

New Vision for Rieman

Using Rieman and Byerly Hall—which Radcliffe will reclaim in 2006—will allow Radcliffe Yard to become “the center of all intellectual activity” for the Institute, Richardson says.

The Radcliffe fellows—about 50 scholars each year who come to Radcliffe from a variety of academic fields—currently meet at the Cronkite Center on Ash St. and have offices at 38 Concord St.

Meetings of fellows are integral to the mission of Radcliffe, Richardson says, because they allow for cross-discipline interaction.

Kathryn Chan, a fellow in visual arts, says the current meeting location in the Cronkite Center doesn’t “have a totally professional feel.”

The Rieman building, which was modified for full-time dance use in 1981, features a large open floor with high ceilings, and can be converted into a space for meetings and presentations without significant renovation, Richardson says.

It’s exactly this adaptability that makes the center so attractive to the dance program.

Last week, Harvard dancers filled Rieman to capacity during a class taught by the renowned professional dance company Taylor II. Within hours of the master class, Rieman was converted into a theater space for a Taylor II performance.

Elizabeth Bergmann, director of Harvard’s dance programs, says that other than Rieman “there’s no adequate performance area for dance except the Loeb [Mainstage] which we don’t have access to.”

“Without a studio, there’s no program,” she says.

A History of Dance

Members of the dance community cite the long tradition of dance in Rieman to argue that it should not be converted to another use.

“It’s like somebody said they’re going to take over the Memorial Church and turn it into a lounge,” says Charles Fried, Beneficial professor of law, who often attends student dance shows. “It’s destructive of a tradition.”

Radcliffe College originally built Rieman in 1898 as a gymnasium for sports and dance.

Dance at Radcliffe developed into a distinct extracurricular activity in 1964 when the famed New York dancer Claire Mallardi came to Radcliffe to direct the program.

Dancers eventually assumed exclusive use of Rieman in 1981.

The 1999 decision to hand over the fate of the dance program’s long-time home to Radcliffe drew little public fanfare at the time—students are only now beginning to protest.

Richardson says Radcliffe agreed to allow the College to lease Rieman for six years, until 2005, to give planners time to find an alternate dance space.

“We wish we could do this without inconveniencing anyone,” Richardson says.

Searching for Answers

In his 2000-2001 annual report, Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 wrote that the impending loss of Agassiz and Rieman presents “potential catastrophes for the College.”

That problem has been alleviated somewhat as Radcliffe agreed to allow student drama groups to continue to use the Agassiz Theatre—since it cannot easily be used for any other purpose.

But administrators have yet to find a replacement for Rieman.

The College is touring property owned by Radcliffe in an attempt to find new space for the dancers, said Office for the Arts Director Jack Megan.

The College “at the highest levels knows of this need and it’s being factored into their plans,” says Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth ’71.

David Zewinski, associate dean for Physical Resources and Planning, whose office is coordinating the search for new space, did not return phone and e-mail messages.

At last night’s meeting, some dancers said that Radcliffe should reconsider its decision to take back Rieman—since losing the dance space will harm mostly women.

“I’d like to hope that they feel an obligation to undergraduate women,” Minster said.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.