Despite winning a £5,000 prize for new rehearsal areas, Dublin University Dance Society (DU Dance) is still facing struggles to secure its space.
A winning entry in Linklater’s Pitch Your Ambition scheme, which saw the society receive £5,000 to fund a new space for its 500 members, has not stopped its troubles.
The society has been unable to secure a space on campus to practice despite now having the funds to use on-campus facilities. Cisca Devereaux, Workshop Officer for DU Dance, explained to The University Times that, before their win, the society had to “venture really far” in order to facilitate both the organisation of workshops and rehearsals for competitive intervarsity teams.
Speaking on behalf of DU Dance, Devereux stated that “we’re actually really disappointed with how the Sports Centre responds to us. A few times we’ve been double booked. The attitude they show, it’s really not fair”. Detailing the deteriorating situation, she recalled: “During Freshers’ Week, we booked out Ancillary Hall to host free classes. But then we were nearly kicked out one day for clapping too loudly. This is with a fitness class blasting Avicii going on beside us and a train going past.”
Since being refurbished for rowers, however, the Fitness Centre is no longer suitable to host rehearsals or workshops. Neither is Regent House an appropriate venue, the flooring being “stone or marble”, which is “too hard for dancers”. The new studio in the Sports Centre costs €30 per hour to rent, a rate that is higher than most off-campus locations the society have used previously.
Refurbishments in the Fitness Centre and tourist activities taking place in Regent House forced the society to venues such as Temple Lane studios, Liffey Trust at the Grand Docks and the Lír. Devereaux said that the group would rehearse “anywhere”, that all they needed was “a big room”.
The variety of venues, some located a 20-minute walk away, contributed to poorly attended workshops, which Devereaux called “extremely demoralising for the society and also unsustainable”. Such were the financial constraints faced by DU Dance, workshops for the month of March were cancelled. Devereaux went on to point out that, after their win, the society’s current issue is not budgetary: “We have the money now, we just don’t have the space. There’s just nowhere on campus.”
Devereaux lamented that their regular dealings with the Sports Centre have not been taken into account in the issuing of prices: “We’ve worked with them before, we’ve always tried to maintain a good relationship with them. We performed for them for Trinity Sports Week, we’ve tried to offer to combine classes or something but we never get anywhere.”
However, the difficulties faced by the society are not confined to their liaising with the Sports Centre. “It’s a lack of support from a lot of college departments”, she continued. “The Drama Department have a beautiful big studio on campus, and we’re granted no access to it whatsoever. We’ve tried so many times, not once have we been allowed.”
In response, Timothy Scott, who oversees the Samuel Beckett Theatre, told The University Times: “It is not that we deny DU Dance space but that we simply do not have enough available space even for core learning for our own students.” He elaborated on this point, explaining that “typically all three of our rehearsal spaces are fully booked from 9am to 10pm every day of the week”.
For Devereaux, these challenges are especially disheartening in light of the fact that “DU Dance is one of the most successful societies on campus”. She pointed to various successes members have achieved in the recent past, including two awards for Outstanding Performances: “When you look at the resources Trinity GAA get, the fact [is], that if you’re on the rugby team, you get on-campus accommodation. We’re showing the dedication, we’re offering the services. We’re just not getting the support.”
