History of Duke Dance Program and Facilities

A Colorful Past | Plan for the Future

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF DANCE AT DUKE

In the 1970's, dance at Duke, under the excellent guidance of Julia Wray, was housed in a very supportive Physical Education department. Carol Richard who taught dance here from 1974 - 1976, described it as an inventive, fertile, and active time for dance, as it was for colleges and universities all over the country. The course offerings included two levels of modern dance technique, modern dance repertory, composition, improvisation, and two or three courses in dance history. Two full length concerts as well as 2 or 3 informal events were offered each year. In the late 70's two levels of ballet technique were added to the curriculum. In the 80's, after dance was moved from Physical Education and placed in the Institute of the Arts, the program developed increased rigor in its training both in the studio and in theory courses. As the number of our full time faculty grew from two to 7, the selection of courses increased dramatically, especially over the last six years.

HISTORY OF THE ARK

State of the ARK
Spirit and space of a cherished Duke landmark are celebrated on its 100th anniversary, 1998

In its 100-year history on Duke University's East Campus, the building affectionately known as The Ark has gone from gymnasium to cafeteria, from campus laundry to swinging social hall.

In the 1970s, it even became a nightclub and coffeehouse. Since the 1980s, however, the humble white building with peeling paint and stained and tattered window blinds has hosted one non-stop dance.

During the school year, the Duke dance program holds classes and performances on the main floor of the Ark. There's also a much smaller studio downstairs in the basement.

In the summer, The American Dance Festival rents the building - and for six weeks a steady stream of dancers and choreographers infuses The Ark with creative energy.

The Ark's original entrance earned this distinctively different building its nickname in the 1920's. To get through its once narrow walkway you had to approach it single file or two-by-two. Once inside though, you think barn and not boat, due to the building's vast open space with windows circling all around.

The upstairs floor curves around the inside walls, the oval shape revealing its past life as a running track. Downstairs, the knotty pine walls are exposed, but the bluish paint on the upstairs walls could stand a fresh coat. There's one bathroom upstairs, one downstairs. And a picture of Noah and his ark painted in the 1930s hangs above the entranceway.

It gets warm in there during the summer. The dancers start going through their paces and soon their faces shine with beads of sweat; their workout clothes cling to their bodies. But guess what? Dancers absolutely adore The Ark. "It's fantastic space for many reasons," said Betty Jones, longtime dancer, teacher, and 39-year ADF faculty member. "Mostly the fact that it has such a high ceiling and to have the balcony all the way around is another wonderful thing. It's good for teaching or performing. "Mostly being a dancer and moving in that space is just fabulous. You want the feeling of space and you feel it. When you're in a little room, one does feel pinched and this has boundless space."

During a recent introductory modern dance class Jones taught in The Ark, she had 15 students spaced at arm's length aprt to prevent anyone getting a flying elbow in the gut or an errant kick in the shins. There was plenty of room for grand gestures and flying leaps. Jones could have had twice that number of students and still had ample room to maneuver and attend to each one.

Outside, the wind kept the leaves in the tall tree dancing and periodic balmy breezes drifted through the open windows. The barefoot students in leotards and T-shirts worked diligently as their feet pounded, squeaked and glided across the floor.

"You can imagine being in a smaller space and feeling how it is psychologically to have that space," Jones explained. "[With The Ark], you have trees and squirrels on the outside, and many times I've stood there demonstrating and I'll see the squirrels chasing themselves around the trees and it's quite wonderful. The setting is good."

In her more than 50 years in dance, Jones has seen plenty of dance studios around the world. Based in Honolulu, Jones has taught all over, in countries such as Russia, Japan, Korea, China, India, France, Italy, and Switzerland. And she said nothing compares to The Ark. Jones teaches exclusively at The Ark during ADF. "It's a beautiful old building from the outside too," Jones said. "It has meant ADF to me."

More History of the Ark

A colorful past

With 100 years of generational comings and goings, The Ark would never lack for a story to tell - if only it could talk.

If it did, it would regale you with tales from the early days. A century ago this wood structure, known as the Angier B. Duke Gymnasium, was considered state of the art. It hosted rousing games of that crazy new sport called basketball. Later, as a cafeteria, it rambled with clutter and ruckus as young Duke gentelemen ate their meals and swapped stores about particularly grueling professors.

By 1927, another chapter in The Ark's history was written when it became a laundry operated by campus staff. This grand dame of a building could have met the wrecking ball that year, but school officials decided to keep it for Duek's female students, who attended classes on East Campus after the men moved to new West Campus facilities. During the 1930's and 40s, the Duke ladies turned it into the hottest spot on campus. On Saturday nights, they hosted dances where gents twirled their gals to the hopping sounds of Tommy Dorsey and that skinny kid from Hoboken, Frank Sinatra.

"Few buildings on campus have had such a varied and student-centered histor," Duke University archivist William E. King said in his book, "If Gargoyles Could Talk: Sketches of Duke University."

King finds this architectural anachronism interesting for a number of reasons.

"I think the building is very appealing architecturally. I like the windows and its shape. Its survival is more surprising because it's a wooden building. We've only had one fire in the history of the university that's destroyed a building," King said.

"I think the location may have helped save [The Ark]. There are a few other building on East that have been torn down that date from the same era, but their space was needed for another building," he said. "This is right in there so close to others, and no one has really eyed that particular location for anything, I guess."

The Angier B. Duke Gymnasium wouldn't have been possible if not for a collaboration between Washington Duke and Durham philanthropist Julian Carr, who was instrumental in brining Duke University, then called Trinity College, to Durham. Washington Duke named the building after his teen-age son.

"Initially [that land] was the Durham County Fairgrounds," said Duke archivist William King. "When the school moved here in 1892, Washington Duke said, "I'll give $85,000 and let's go talk to Julian Carr and see if he'll donate the land. Carr owned what was called Blackwell Park and that held the fairgrounds."

Carr donated 62 acres of land, which became part of East Campus. Construction began on The Ark in 1898 using the lumber of an old racetrack grandstand at the fairgrounds. As for the gymnasium's other features, there was a bowling alley in the basement, where you had to set your own pins, as well as a swimming pool.

"I'm not sure it's even written about that much, but apparently the first swimming pool on campus was in the basement of this building. From what description we have, it was just a large, round wooden tub full of water," King said.

"We have no drawing and no photograph. That is the one thing in 26 years as university archivist that I wished I had a picture of. It conjures up all sorts of visions. That's why I'd like to have some kind of pictorial representation of it."

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Planning a party

To honor The Ark on it's 100th birthday on its 100th birthday, Duke University's dance program will host a year of events to celebrate the place it calls home.

"Because this building is 100 years old and it's such a special place to us, we saw it as an opportunity to do a three-prong celebration of the building itself, of the dance program, and just to celebrate the dancers and choreographers that have come through here and sort of put the dancing spirit into this place," explained Barbara Dickinson, head of Duke's dance program. "We want to to all of that and to kick off feeding the dancing spirit in this place for the second 100 years."

While many of these programs marking the Ark's first century are still in the planning stages, the first one is scheduled for September 4, 1998 when the dance program will hold an open house at The Ark with a sock hop featuring a band or a disc jockey.

Famed modern dancer Risa Steinberg will perform in The Ark in November. In December, some Duke dance alumnae still working in dance will return for shows. And one event Dickinson is particularly excited about is a "Twenty-Four Hours of Dance" Weekend in February 1999.

"If somebody says 'I want to come and perform for 15 minutes at 2 a.m.,' we just shove them in the slot. It's purely democratic; first come, first served," Dickinson said. We hope it will involve everyone. It doesn't matter what skill level. We want groups from the public and private schools, private studios, independent choreographers, professional dance companies, you name it."

M'Liss Dorrance, director of undergraduate studeis at Duke's dance program, and one of the owners of the Ballet School of Chapel Hill, also has a long history with The Ark and is helping in this year of celebration.

"It's just a spectacular building. It's more than two stories of space and there's an immense floor and windows running down the length of both sides, " Dorrance said. "You just have this feeling you can go in there and do anything."

"In more contemporary studios with no windows and flourescent lighting, you feel almost like a specimen. The Ark has a very holistic and natural feeling to the space. The light in there is extraordinary. There's something about the tradition and energy that people have left behind, too. You feel there's something special and interesting when you go in there."

Plan for the future

While The Ark's past was varied, the future looks sharply focused. For 10 months of the year, The Ark will belong to aspiring Duke dancers. Come each June and July, the best and brightest in modern dance will return to reacquaint themselves with their old friend, through the ADF.

Martha Myers, dean of the ADF school for 30 years, has never taught in The Ark (she teaches choreography in smaller buildings). But she has watched many classes and performances there. And with 55 years of dance to her credit, she feels quite comfortable giving The Ark her seal of approval.

"It's the most beautiful studio on our campus," said Myers, who divides her time between Connecticut and New york, but comes to Durham for the ADF each summer. "It's one of the most beautiful studios. it has a wonderful valuted ceiling and windows all the way around. It's like your'e outdoors and indoors all at once.

"There's a real special feeling about it... There's a sense of privacy about it. It's public and open in a way," she said yet "it's off by itself and there's nothing going on in it except you."

And once again, Myers returns to that concept of the space available in The Ark, perhaps something that can only be appreciated by dancers.

"It has a large space, but not so large that you feel you become insignificant. It's not overwhelming," Myers said. "It combines freedom and constraint in terms of you're actually filling a space and not a void."

If Dickinson had one wish for improving that space known as The Ark, it would be to get a new floor. The Ark's present marl floor - a mix of clay, sand and limestone - replaced the old black-and-white checkered linoleum one.

"This is considered a hard floor, meaning when you jump on it, it doesn't give you the bounce that other floors do. This floor is actually harder than we wish it were," Dickinson said. "It doesn't have that resilience or that bounce to it.

"We have had some dancers who don't want to rehearse in here because it's harder, and that eventually takes its toll on your joints and your shins and all the rest of it."

New floor or not, Dickinson looks forward to the festivities marking The Ark's first century, and toward the next generation of dancers' discovery in this sturdy structure with its own rugged beauty.

"This is our home," Dickinson said. "I think the university does appreciate it now in terms of a historic building. Besides, once dance came in here, we'd create holy hell if they tried to tear it down."

Melanie Credle
The Herald Sun.....Sunday, June 28, 1998

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