Several campus performance groups are vying for space in Cohen Auditorium for their traditional end-of-semester performances. One casualty of the scheduling conflict is the Spirit of Color dance troupe, which until yesterday did not have a performance date for this semester because its traditional slot was taken by the Tufts Dance Collective (TDC).
For TDC, the move from its traditional performance space in Jackson Dance Lab to Cohen was a welcome change. Jackson was a low-capacity venue, according to TDC Co-Director Kelly Dutton, and it did not accommodate the crowds.
But TDC's move conflicted with Spirit of Color, another dance troupe that traditionally performs in Cohen. Scheduling for the space is done through a lottery system and TDC put in a request for the weekend before reading period, the nights that Spirit of Color usually performs to capacity crowds.
TDC won the dates and Spirit of Color does not have a date slated for its semester performance. The group has negotiated performance time with the Beelzebubs, who also had a performance scheduled in Cohen. "We are working it out with [Spirit of Color]," said Marty Keiser, the Beelzebubs' president. "We were planning on giving it up because we don't need that date."
The Bubs usually perform in Goddard Chapel, but wanted to move to Cohen this year. But since the Department of Music booked every Friday and Saturday in December, the group moved its concert back to the chapel.
Spirit of Color members were taken aback by the TDC move, which they say they never heard about until this semester. Kim Wong, former director of Spirit of Color, said she wishes the groups had communicated in advance. "We could have probably figured the whole thing out on our own," she said yesterday.
Wong stressed the high demand on the Cohen space, saying it is unfortunate that her group was forced out after selling out both of its performances last semester. According to Wong, Spirit of Color cannot find an alternate space to perform.
The scheduling conflicts arose after TDC grew in size. The dance department expressed concern over the large size of Tufts Dance Collective (TDC) last spring. The department said the Jackson Dance Lab cannot accommodate the group and gave TDC two options - it either had to move their performance out of the lab or reduce the number of members to 20.
TDC has over 150 members, so the group's directors chose to relocate their end-of-semester performances to Cohen auditorium.
The dance department placed other restrictions on the group, as well, capping the dancers in each dance to 25 to avoid going over the room capacity of the Jackson rehearsal rooms.
TDC took measures to restrict its membership to comply with the new rules. Traditionally, TDC does not hold auditions, but members can no longer participate in more than four dances, or five if they choreographed a dance.
