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Dance Theater of Syracuse Faces Possible Closure Dance Company Faces Possible Closure

By Caleb Britt

© 2020 Caleb Britt

Reporter: Lacy Tucknall was looking forward to this dance season.

Lacy Tucknall: I was very used to getting out of school, going to dance, coming home, doing homework, and that just kind of changed. It really stopped everything.

Reporter: Tucknall says she was sad when the pandemic caused the dance studio to close in March.

Tucknall: It made me kind of rethink how I’ve had to do things and how I’ve had to go on with life. It wasn’t very easy.

Reporter: Time in the studio was about more than dance. Tucknall says it was also about community.

Tucknall: Its been really tough not seeing the same people that you usually do every single day.

Reporter: With these doors being locked and no money coming in from classes, the dance company is trying to stay afloat by selling costumes and equipment from their storage unit. They’re being told they won’t be able to return to their rented space until July 2021.

Carol Dandridge Charles: It’s not prudent to be in debt, indebted, no.

Reporter: Charles says making it to 2021 is still a question.

Charles: We have to be realistic, so you know a year and a half from now we may be looking at rebuilding everything.

Reporter: Charles says she doesn’t want to close the studio, but it would only be temporary if it came to that decision. She says she’s hopeful about the dance company’s future. Reporting from Syracuse, Caleb Britt, N-C-C News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)- The Dance Theater of Syracuse was embarking on its 20th season in a new location.

After 11 years of being in a studio on Westcott Street, they relocated to Syracuse University’s Community Folk Art Center in January.

Dance classes ended in March because of the pandemic, but the dance company’s executive director, Dr. Carol Dandridge Charles, thought they would be able to return in August.

Charles was notified in August that she may not be able to resume her dance classes at the center until July 2021.

The executive director said she was excited to be in the Community Folk Art Center this year because it’s full of art and culture, which would immerse her dance students in more art forms than just dance.

“That really develops an artist, a well-rounded artist,” Charles said.

Charles was also looking forward to engaging with Syracuse University students at the center.

The director is an alumna of Syracuse University’s drama program and said an adult opened her eyes to teaching dance when she was at Syracuse and said she was looking forward to doing the same for other students.

“I loved that I could take what I was learning in the classroom and put it in those children and watch it blossom,” Charles said.

Even though Charles may not be able to return to the Community Folk Art Center’s dance studio with her students until next year, she said she’s thinking of ways to hold dance classes in nature until the dance company is able to return inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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