At the beginning of next semester, the Dance Department will be moving into its own building, which is currently under construction on Cross Street. The locations that the department currently occupies in the Center for the Arts will be given to the Theater Department to utilize.

As the University’s dance program has expanded over the years, offering a wider range of classes and producing an increasing number of shows, the need for a new space has become apparent to certain members of the department. Associate Professor of Dance and Environmental Studies Katja Kolcio, who currently chairs the Dance Department, commented on the necessity of the expansion.

“The Dance Department at Wesleyan is unlike other dance programs in higher education,” Kolcio wrote in an email to The Argus. “Throughout our 40-year history we have remained uniquely global in our offerings and orientation…but there is not enough space to meet the needs of students to fulfill their coursework, and for faculty to teach courses.”

The Dance Department currently shares space with the Theater Department. Some professors in the dance program do not have offices, while others’ offices are very small.

Dance students have fewer options in terms of courses due to the limited space previously provided on campus. Kolcio stated that the sentiment among the professors is positive and that this studio will bring new opportunities to students who want to participate in dance.

“Our dance majors often have to do their course-related dance work late at night because that is the only time studios are available,” Kolcio wrote.

The only other dance studio on campus, the Bessie Schönberg studio (located on Pine Street), is farther from the rest of the department, making it less accessible.

“[F]or the first time, dance faculty will all have office space (currently the [d]ance faculty do not all have office space), and our two studios will be located in closer proximity to each other,” Kolcio wrote.

Director of Physical Plant Alan Rubacha, the project manager for the construction of the new building, estimated that construction will be completed by December 2013, in time for the spring semester.

“The building is about 5,000 [square feet] and will feature [nine] offices, a conference/warm up space, and a mechanical room on level 1,” Rubacha wrote in an email to The Argus. “[O]n level 2 the highlight is the dance space which will feature a Harlequin spring floor and a lighting grid and lighting system, changing rooms, and toilet rooms… The building will also feature 100 [percent] LED lighting, which includes all of the theater lights.”

Artist-in-Residence Patricia Beaman hopes that the new floor will be far superior to the wood floors in the current dance studios because these will be made specifically for dancers. She also expressed excitement that the building will allow natural light and air into the performance area; currently, many dance classes are held in the basement of the CFA, where there is only artificial light.

“I think it will be a very uplifting space,” Beaman said.

The state-of-the-art lighting system will also open up the space for theater as well, giving the building greater flexibility as a venue. It will allow the new studio to serve as another place for performances of all kinds, from student concerts to visiting artists.

Assistant Professor of Dance Hari Krishnan believes that this new building will help the dance program collaborate with the community at large.

“Dance has such a long history at Wesleyan; it’s so established and rooted and so respected,” said Krishnan. “It’s nice to see a continuation of the respectability and excellence the Dance Department has represented within Wesleyan.”

Krishnan added that the development will help the department and dance community continue to grow.

“It helps further the larger goal of adventurous learning,” said Krishnan. “It’s going to be a hub for dance at Wesleyan and a place for people to come together and engage in really meaningful ways.”

Many University students double major in dance and other fields, and Kolcio hopes that the new space will open up the major to more students to use the space in a variety of ways, including for capstone projects.

“Cross-disciplinary collaboration with dance has proliferated across all the divisions including with the College of the Environment, Government, History, East Asian Studies, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and Anthropology Department[s],” Kolcio wrote. “Students often complete the required capstone research projects and theses by combining dance with another discipline, and this is happening ever more frequently.”

Kolcio believes that the construction will benefit the entire campus and not just dance students.

“Over 40 [percent] of students at Wesleyan take dance for curricular credit by the time they graduate,” Kolcio wrote. “We are a dancing campus.”