The Window Dance Ensemble’s planned Tuesday, May 15 show date will take place one day earlier. The rescheduled orchestra concert will take its place. The concert, which was originally scheduled to occur on Apr. 10, needed to be moved after town administrators decided to extend the town meeting by one week.

“We can’t have school events against [the] town meeting,” Fine Arts Department Head Susan Memoli said. “If you’re looking at the hierarchy, that’s always the top thing, right?”

The rescheduling caused a stir among Window members. Dance ensemble members have expressed concern about their annual show date being moved in favor of a different group’s performance.

“[Window is] still a big commitment, and its offensive that they think we could just be pushed aside,” junior Window member Lauren Campbell said.

According to Memoli, the conflict between orchestra and Window was unavoidable due to the additional town meeting week, snow days and general calendarial chaos. As a result of this conflict, orchestra, which is a graded course, took precedence over Window, which is a club.

“Flexibility is really the key to this because there are unavoidable conflicts at times,” Memoli said. “We have to be flexible, everybody’s got to be flexible.”

Despite the fact that orchestra students receive a grade, members of Window have expressed that they feel disrespected as a group because of their efforts and preparations that weren’t honored.

“Because of the snow days there was an orchestra concert that got pushed to that Tuesday of our show, and because they’re fine arts they got priority over us even though we had booked it five months in advance,” junior Window member Dale Lippincott said. “Now we awkwardly have a show on a Monday.”

Memoli emphasized the importance of flexibility when it comes to performances. She acknowledged that orchestra also had to make a shift in their schedule due to unfortunate circumstances.

“I mean, we had to move an event that was scheduled over a year in advance,” Memoli said. “We do have to be flexible. It just is what it is.”

Window members have expressed feelings of underrepresentation and disrespect from the school’s fine arts department.

“What we’re taking away from [this] is that the directors next year need to find representation that cares about them and will advocate for them,” senior Window co-director Savannah Salitsky said. “We don’t really have anyone at the school that’s advocating for us right now.”

Despite how some members of Window have expressed how they feel about the conflict, Memoli stated that she and other members of the department, such as theater teacher Aidan O’Hara, respect and support Window.

“We definitely value [Window],” Memoli said. “I frankly wish it was part of our curriculum. I think there were definitely people who were trying to help with the scheduling situation.”