UMass Amherst Dance Celebrates Opening of New Studios
New performance and rehearsal spaces mark an exciting chapter for the university's dance program.
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The dance program in the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Music and Dance has a new home. This October, students and faculty celebrated the opening of the university's new dance studios at 472 North Pleasant Street.
The new facility features a 4,500-square-foot main studio, transformed from the chapel of the original Newman Center. The space is equipped with a state-of-the-art dance floor, curtains, rigging, and sound and lighting technology. An adjoining 1,500-square-foot studio provides a more intimate setting for creating, rehearsing, and performing.
Earlier this month, the department officially welcomed guests to the new studios with an opening gala featuring performances, music, and tours of the facility. Dance students led guests on an immersive tour of the space, while improvisational solos and music from a graduate jazz quartet showcased the new studios.
The evening also included remarks from Department Chair Matthew Westgate, Director of Dance Lauren Cox, and dance faculty members Tom Vacanti and Molly Fletcher Lynch-Clark. The celebration concluded with a performance by dancer Samantha Bean and voice professor Marjorie Melnick, followed by a demonstration from the Ballet 5 class, overseen by Vacanti.
Among the alumni in attendance was Marilyn V. Patton, who founded the UMass Amherst dance program in 1965. Patton spent time speaking with current undergraduate dance students and sharing stories from the early days of UMass Dance, connecting the program's history with its newest chapter.