This post was updated April 3 at 8:12 p.m.

Dance groups on campus will need to be more flexible when finding rehearsal space during the ongoing renovations at the John Wooden Center.

UCLA Recreation will take steps to mitigate the renovations’ impact on extracurricular student activities, according to guidelines from the John Wooden Center Improvement Project. But the dance community continues to face closures of practice spaces that began Jan. 31. Christine Barber, a third-year mathematics student and a director of the contemporary dance organization Synthesis Dance Theater, said her group and many others wish their passion for art and creativity was better supported by UCLA during this time.

“Given that we are dancers, and this is our thing, art is our thing, we can get pretty creative with space,” Barber said. “But it is really hard to make the most of the time we schedule and the time that we have everyone together when our space doesn’t support full movement.”

[Related: Wooden Center renovations spur reactions on potential disruptions, improvements]

The renovations, which are expected to take two and a half years to complete, will combine the three first-floor racquetball courts into a large multipurpose activity space and unite the two first-floor squash courts into a studio, a UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The spokesperson added that the additional spaces, as well as added weight training stations on the concourse of Drake Stadium, are aimed to reduce the impact on dance groups during the later phases of the project when the Dynasty and Pyramid rooms are being renovated at separate times.

“The expanded lobby will allow for the creation of a multipurpose space that can be used for a variety of activities, while the larger weight rooms will address the current high demand and utilization,” a UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Rosalia Park, the administrative director for hip-hop dance group Samahang Modern, said her club also has to adjust its plans for the upcoming quarter due to the likelihood of space constraints. The second-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student said she has concerns about Pardee Gym being closed, as the UCLA Recreation site says the facility will be closed after March 17.

Park said the group uses the gym’s large space to practice its competition sets from start to finish. Losing that space would require the team to reevaluate its planning, as it would most likely have to use the spaces found in the campus parking lots, she added.

Second-year ecology, behavior and evolution student Hannah Yang said dance group VSU Modern has used parking structures to practice even before she became the team’s administrative director. She added that the difficulty of booking a studio is part of the reason the dance group uses the structures. While the free-flowing air allows the group to maintain a comfortable body temperature, Yang said the lack of mirrors is a severe constraint.

“The closures and renovations at Wooden impose a limitation on us,” Yang said. “Indoor spaces with mirrors especially, or with any reflective surfaces, are already very hard to find.”

Lenny Chen, a former coordinator and current advisor for Samahang Modern, said the scheduling challenges for rehearsal space on campus have been prevalent since before the COVID-19 pandemic but are now more strenuous. The leadership from all four of these competitive teams has created a group chat, Chen said, through which they collaborate to adjust to the Wooden Center renovations. In addition to the limited space due to the closures, the Wooden Center has failed to be transparent about the timeline of construction, making it difficult to plan around, Chen added.

“Recreation will share information on project schedules and impacted spaces as it becomes available,” a UCLA spokesperson said in the emailed statement. “Given the variability of the construction schedule, including unforeseen issues or delays due to weather or other circumstances, information may not be available until a month before each quarter.”

[Related: John Wooden Center construction presents relocation issues for clubs, activities]

Barber said the goal of dance groups is to make the sport accessible and community-based, so students can have a source of love and nurturing on campus. Dance has spread to all corners of UCLA, Barber said, and campus would be sad and quiet without dance. She added that student dance groups on campus are an ever-growing community, making it all the more necessary that their rehearsal needs are met.

“It would be really devastating … if there weren’t such a community-building event of people getting together, dancing, choreographing, spending time together to create something really fun and cool that makes people feel good,” Barber said.