The sunlight beamed through the large windows of Wollman Hall as students milled about before class on a recent Wednesday morning. The black dance floor, which after less than a month, showed signs of use. Tables and chairs clustered in the middle of the room delayed their hip hop dance class. When the teacher entered the space, she shook her head and muttered, “The New School is testing me,” before they all cleared the space. Then they all started to move when Zapp’s 1982 hit “Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing)” bubbled through the speakers.
For Lang dance students, this is the new normal since their old dance space, PMT Dance Studio closed for demolition and forced them to temporarily move to Wollman Hall. It has been a mix of good and bad. For once, they feel part of the New School community, but are annoyed by the proper dance amenities and having to practice in a shared space.
“For the past few classes, there would be chairs set up and there would be some kind of meeting that happened there before so it’s kind of a nuisance to take care of that.” said Frank James Martinez, a sophomore dance student.
PMT studios was closed for demolition on Jan. 30. But come mid-March, they’ll have to leave Wollman too. The hall is a university-wide event space and has been booked for months. Through negotiations with other departments, the dance program managed to get the space. But due to the influx of requests to use the space, it is only available on a short term basis.
“We’re going back to PMT [eventually], but PMT isn’t ready yet,” said Neil Greenberg, Arts Program Director said.
Until PMT is ready, class sessions are going to be held in Wollman Hall and additionally at Chelsea Studios, located at 51 W. 26th Street
Until the reopening of PMT studios, located at West 25th Street and Sixth Avenue, dance students have had to contend with a myriad of issues that come with using the shared space.
Wollman Hall, which is on the top floor of the 65 W. 11th St. Lang building, normally hosts events like the Study Abroad Fair, Imagine Science Film Market and Lang Social Justice Spring Kick-Off. Prior occupants sometimes leave their setups cluttering the dance floor forcing students to spend valuable class time cleaning after them.
“It normally takes around 10 minutes, and that there are a couple of classes where the teacher had to rush the rest of the class because we had to take care of that.” Martinez said.
Wollman Hall wasn’t built for dancing. They installed a marley floor with a sprung surface over the existing floor. And there are no mirrors, a problem for Lauren Queen, a third year dance and anthropology major.
“It’s good in some ways because it forces you to feel how things feel in your own body but also dancers these days are trained to be in front of a mirror,” Queen said.
For hip hop dance teacher Rokafella, the surface is a cause for concern. “The marley floor is a challenge for doing backspin or glides because rubber causes friction on your sneakers.”
Despite the inconveniences, dance students and faculty appreciate some aspects of the space like its openness and natural light.
“It’s just a really large open space and you have the windows so you get a lot of good lighting in” said Queen.
Others also appreciate its place on campus.
“I love it for the way it feels like we’re apart of the workings of the university.” Greenburg said.
Still, some students wish the university had more dance studios so they wouldn’t have to waste time traveling from class to class, which has long been an inconvenience for them.
“Lang can find places for us to go to. Dance is a part of this college and it is all off campus. I feel like if they make the changes, it will lead to a better outcome for dance students,” said Christian Stainbeck, a first year dance major.
Greenberg, the director for Lang’s arts program, also sits on the school’s space planning committee, which gives him hope and insight into the space issues at the university.
“Lang is undertaking a big space planning project.” said Greenberg. “If [the proposals] could happen it would be just wonderful. It would put at least one studio on campus,” he added.
Photo by Orlando Mendiola