مکالمه ی دوم

Listen to a conversation between a student and a university activities coordinator.

Coordinator: I understand your problem, but the upper level of the Student Center isn’t available for the time being.

Student: But my dance group has a performance coming up.

Coordinator: I’ve been talking with people all day long who are in the exact same situation. There are at least a dozen dance and drama groups on campus, and they are all scrambling for rehearsal space right now.

Student: But I made this reservation last June, before leaving for the summer. No one said anything about construction.

Coordinator: That’s because no one knew that the remodeling was gonna run over into the beginning of the school year. The builders are just way behind schedule.

For a while, we weren’t even sure that the dining hall on the lower level would be ready for the start of the semester. So, it could’ve been a lot worse.

So when will.?

The whole upper level will be ready in six weeks. The rehearsal rooms, the game room, the computer center.

Six weeks! That’s not gonna help me. Our performance is in five weeks.

Are you part of the program they plan for parents’ weekend?

Yeah, the thing is we are a tap dancing group, and we need to practice on hard floors, preferably wood. We can practice on carpet at first, but it’s important for us to be able to hear our feet hit the floor.

Interesting, uh, because of the rhythm, huh?

Yeah, because the taping becomes part of the music.

So the floors are very important.

Exactly, and just about everywhere on campus has carpeting.

Well, there’s always the stage at the student theatre. Though it’s a long shot, we can look at the schedule. There might be some odd hours free.

What about in town? Do you think the university could help us rent a rehearsal space in a commercial dance studio in town, given the situation?

That’s not really my call. I can reserve rehearsal and performance spaces on campus for you, but off campus.

So who would I talk to?. The dance department?

Look, let’s check the theatre schedule first.