Please support dance and recreation at Pasadena City College
Dear Board Members Sandra Chen Lau, James Aragon, Steve Gibson, Tammy Silver, Kristine Kwong, Ryan Liu, Alton Wang, Avery Bradley, Dr. José A. Gómez:
We, the students and instructors of Pasadena City College, are writing to ask you to adequately fund and support the facilities for an effective dance education program.
With the proposed demolition of the W building, we need appropriate new facilities for our classes. The proposed replacement facilities are inadequate for an equitable, safe, efficient, and effective dance program.
Just as one would expect that a music program would supply in-tune pianos and benches for their piano students, dance has certain basic requirements.. We have outlined these requirements below.
Basic Requests for Dance Program:
We need two appropriately-sized sprung floor studios - one with marley, one with wood. Reasons:
Equity - Each form of dance is connected with cultural traditions and heritages that need to be valued. Different dance forms need different types of floors. For instance, hip hop and tap dance require specific types of shoes, and need a wood floor. If they are practiced on a marley floor, the sound is incorrect and movements are not correctly executable. On the other hand, ballet and modern dance need a marley floor
Safety - In fact, practicing tap dance on a marley is dangerous- the friction will damage dancers’ knees. Dancing barefoot on a floor that has shoes (tap, or street shoes, even street shoes only used in studio) creates a health hazard as the debris and rubber residue can cause cuts and infections, and is unacceptable for dancers who dance barefoot and dance on floor. In addition, if the ceiling is too low, the floors are not sprung properly, the air quality isn’t adequate, or the room is too small, injuries and lung issues can occur. Of course, safety concerns are also liability concerns for the school.
Class Availability - Students need access to a reasonable schedule in order to take their dance classes, especially those needing to fulfill requirements to complete the AA Degree in dance. PCC prides itself in being a place where students can successfully transfer to a four year program. Without access to classes, students in the dance program won’t be able to finish their degree. Many alumni have successfully transferred from PCC’s dance program to the best four year dance programs in SoCal. We wouldn’t want to lose future graduates of these programs.
Reasonable Maintenance Costs - The marley will be permanently damaged by tap and hip hop shoes, and as they marley gets destroyed, it will rip in ways that are dangerous for dancers whose form requires them to be barefoot.
Other Basic Requirements for the alternate facilities offered (for reasons cited above)
Size of studio - at least 30 x 36 square feet
Sprung floors - one wood, one marley
Ceilings high enough to jump without hitting arm on ceiling (12 feet)
The ceiling must be free of anything that students might hit with their hands while jumping - for instance, no projectors hanging from the ceiling (this is a basic safety requirement)
Healthy air quality, air purifiers, and control of AC and heat
Sufficient lighting with at least some natural light
Sound system appropriate for a dance class volume, and sufficient sound barrers that instructors can play music loud enough to dance to (and tap dancers can produce the quality and volume of sound required for their art form)
Sufficient space to store dance department costumes and equipment
Expectation of completing the Spring 2024 semester in the current W building space, and having at least two new spaces available for summer classes (with all the above requests in place). Beginning construction in any way (including attempting to remove cabinets in W203 or W201) would be extremely disruptive given that the costumes in these cabinets are being used for the spring dance concert, and any construction materials (shards of wood, metal, etc.) could easily get into dancers’ feet while dancing. In addition, construction puts dust and particles in the air, which endangers dancers’ lungs.
We recommend that dance be integrated into the CA building where it was originally supposed to go, and where it belongs, or for another equivalent space to be created.
Thank you for your consideration and understanding of the need to treat the dance program with the full respect that any other program would receive at PCC. We wouldn’t expect the basketball team to practice on the football field - we request appropriate accommodations for the dance program at PCC.