Image courtesy of the Skidmore Dance Department
This article is published under the Opinions Section of The Skidmore News.
On February 2nd, Lori Dawson, technical director for the Dance Department, found and reported a vandalization case at the dance theater. Graffiti in sharpie was found written on the bottom of the Cyc. There were several names written on the Cyc, one of them reading Arod and the two others being unreadable. The Cyc is the white or natural seamless flat muslin panel that is hung at the furthest point upstage (aka the very back of the stage). It reflects light and allows the theater to create an atmosphere and light it’s dancers. The Cyc is a very sensitive and crucial part of theater, and it is essential that no one touches it. The oils that our skin produces can damage the Cyc and the occurrence of someone damaging it with a sharpie is disgusting and devastating to the department and its dancers.
In light of Senior capstones and the spring concert approaching, the Dance Department has to find a way to 'cover up' the names on the Cyc. In order to maintain the theater, the department must find a way to hide the graffiti so that the audience members aren’t captivated by the sharpie instead of the dancers' performance. It is impossible to buy and set up a new Cyc before the spring concert as it would require considerable manual labor and thousands of dollars that the department doesn’t have to spare.
The intramural gym that lies between the dance studios and the theater is frequently full of sports teams and intramural games. Oftentimes, these athletes completely ignore the dancers who are working in the studios and theater, and they fill the dance hallway with sports gear that shouldn’t be there. Dancers have seen athletes also refuse to wear masks correctly and sometimes completely forgo them. This is an extremely dangerous situation, especially as the dance department is a small community, and if someone were to get COVID it would quickly spread through the department and many of our workshops and capstones would have to be put on hold.
I'm sure the athletes who use the intramural gym are as annoyed by having to walk through the dancers' space to reach the gym as the dancers are to watch them. Just recently, I’ve overheard athletes saying “I went down seven different hallways trying to find this gym,” as well as, “I didn’t know they had dance studios over here.” There are many other gyms the athletes could be using and yet the athletics department and intramural teams choose to use the one in the Dance Department’s space. It is evident that many do not understand that the space isn’t just for Skidmore's sports teams.
The perpetrators of the vandalism found on February 2nd have not come forward or been discovered, but it only speaks to the lack of control dancers have in their own space and the frustration students inside the department are experiencing. It is easy to forget that the Sports Center houses more communities than just sports teams, but moving forward, especially around increasing levels of COVID, it is important for all groups to be mindful of others. It is hard for dancers to be surrounded by sports teams in their own space and it would do well for intramural teams to remember they don’t own the building, and it is a privilege, not a right to be there.