Dear members of the Harvard Dance Community,

We write to share some exciting news about dance at Harvard.

Over the past several months, Theater, Dance & Media (TDM) and the Office for the Arts (OFA) have worked in close partnership to determine an effective management model for the Harvard Dance Center (HDC). Both departments are committed to increasing curricular dance offerings while continuing to support the dynamic extracurricular dance community and its many dance groups.

Accordingly, beginning on September 1st, TDM will assume primary responsibility for the management of the Harvard Dance Center. TDM’s staff will join the OFA staff at the Dance Center, which will facilitate much greater collaboration and communication. With this change, the Harvard Dance Center will be home to both TDM’s curricular offerings and the Office for the Arts Dance Program.

For our students, this will mean more curricular opportunities while maintaining uninterrupted OFA support for extracurricular dance. Because a curricular unit will now manage the day-to-day operations of HDC, there will be more resources for equipment purchase and maintenance, which will benefit all members of the dance community.

Elizabeth Epsen, Interim Communications and Program Manager for the OFA Dance Program, will remain as the lead administrator of the OFA Dance Program situated in the Dance Center, continuing to manage OFA Dance programming and classes, as well as offering advisory support for extracurricular dance. Dara Badon, Administrative Assistant for Dance, will now report to Emily Warshaw, Director of Administration of TDM, supporting both the OFA Dance Program and TDM’s courses and programming in dance through the transition. Dara will remain the first point of contact for all studio reservations.

Working through this arrangement has been a collaborative effort between TDM and the OFA. We share a commitment to ensuring the dance community as a whole continues to thrive and grow, and we believe both the curricular and extracurricular dance offerings at Harvard will benefit from this arrangement.

We are delighted that the TDM-OFA partnership is strong and growing in meaningful ways for our student artists and the entire Harvard dance community. We look forward to a great year of dance on Harvard’s campus!

Ju Yon Kim
Chair, Standing Committee on Theater, Dance, and Media
Patsy Takemoto Mink Professor of English
Harvard College Professor 22-27
Harvard University

Jack Megan
Director
Office for the Arts at Harvard