“Dance is just as important as acting or any other art,” Degollado said.

Tony Juarez, 23, dances for ConDanza and attributes his growth as a person to the company. 

“The company is a big part of my life,” Juarez said. “It taught me the value of discipline and commitment.” 

Maddy Greene, 20, a member of ConDanza, said dancing helps with her fine art studies at the University of Arizona.

“I think it gives me a good work ethic,” Greene said. “It really gives me something to think about because I’m an artist at the U of A.”

ConDanza is located downtown on East Toole Avenue and North Fifth Avenue. The studio offers classes year-round for dancers 15 and older.

A dance class will be held this summer for children 14 and younger. Degollado hopes to create a year-round class for these young dancers. 

By Marissa Alejandre
Staff
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Flandrau Science Center at the University of Arizona Tuesday, June 5, to view the transit of Venus, which occurs only twice a century.

“It’s a once in a lifetime event and we’ve known about it for a couple months now so we decided to come out,” said Eric Sahr, a geology major and president of the UA’s chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.

Michael Magee, the technical director of the transit event said that the transit of Venus occurs when Venus passes between Earth and the sun. He said it is much more difficult to see than a solar eclipse because Venus is “a tiny, little, black dot moving across [the sun].”

Viewing the transit unaided can damage the eye, so event officials sold safe solar viewing glasses. Local amateur astronomers even brought solar-filtered telescopes so the public could safely catch a glimpse of the “Morning Star.”

Flandrau observers also watched live streaming of the transit from the sky center on Mt. Lemmon, as well as observatories around the world.

"Dr. Larry Lebofsky also gave a lecture series about the history and significance of the Venus transit," said David Acklam, a docent from the UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

All of the exhibit areas in Flandrau were also open to the public for free.

By Lexie Alvarez
Staff

With the ongoing construction of the Tucson modern streetcar, some businesses are seeing a decrease in sales and daily store visits. Other stores, however, are using the construction to their advantage.

 At first, Mark Levkowitz, the manager of the Chicago Music Store, was wary of the construction. His feelings changed, however, once construction started. “Now it makes us relatively easy to get to,” he said. 

The Chicago Music Store will receive a $90,000 grant from Tucson Partnership to restore its historical façade. 

The construction, however, is hurting other businesses just as much as it is helping them.

“I think it’s an unnecessary evil. It’s dirty and noisy. I just hope when they’re finished, it will bring more people to the area,” said Tom Cassidy, store owner of Ooo! Outside of Ordinary. 

Inconvenience, noise, parking limitations, and timing are many factors that contribute to the demise of many businesses down the modern streetcar route.
 
“Any road construction typically barricades and slows down traffic,” said Steve Taylor, a Tucson business consultant. “People tend to avoid the area, take different routes and park other places, sometimes spontaneously. It’s their own perception that’s a big deal.”

The modern streetcar promises to bring in a new crowd of people to the downtown area and the University of Arizona campus. Businesses hope for increased sales.

By Kathryn Burney
Staff

Walking into the University of Arizona Museum of Art, the scratch of graphite on plaster whispered across the gallery, soon to be overpowered by the slam of hammer on nail. 

Ladders, scattered throughout the rooms, jutted out like aluminum stalagmites. Artists, balanced precariously, work away on masterpieces. 

In the exhibit, Sol LeWitt Days, local artists are getting the opportunity to work in teams as they follow the instructions made by the famous minimalist artist. Lauren Rabb, art curator, seems to be pleased. 

“I’m so happy with it,” said Rabb. “It’s perfect, it’s fantastic, it’s exactly, you know, what Sol LeWitt would have wanted.”

When LeWitt started, he made all of his own work. As he grew in popularity and his pieces grew in complexity, he began to take young artists under his wing. Following his instructions, they would then make the pieces. 

Jake Hunnicutt, a portrait artist, said he felt getting to explore his creativity through restrictions helps him to see LeWitt’s perspective. “The steps that he’s laid out for creating the art does give you the ability to maybe see the world a little bit through his lens and understand how he viewed art and how he viewed the world,” Hunnicutt said.

The visitors experienced art in an new way, by watching the artists as they worked. 

“It allows [people] to see working art, living art. It allows them to come down and participate and ask questions and become more involved, which is really a unique experience,” Carolyn Sotelo said. 

By Jose Rivera 
Staff

When the temperature rises in Pima County, animal-affiliated programs stay on their paws. 

All over Tucson, animal organizations are giving advice about proper guidelines for pet owners dealing with the rise in heat. Despite these helpful guidelines,the number of animals suffering from heat stress is increasing at Pima Animal Care Center (PACC).

“We get more calls during this time of the year. Most of them consist of stray animals,” said Jayne Cundy, representative of PACC. “We had 423 calls last month (May) that consisted of welfare calls.”

Welfare calls report animals without water, wandering the streets and being injured. So far this year, 3,399 calls have come into the PACC regarding animal welfare.

The longer the time that animals spend outside in the sun, the greater their stress level. As the weather hits record highs, animals need to keep cool.

“All animals can get stressed in the heat – people, dogs, cats, etc.,” said Dr. Nobel Jackson, a lecturer in veterinary science and microbiology at the University of Arizona. “Pets need shade just as [much as] humans [do] to get cool. Heat strokes are certainly a risk when anyone is out in the sun for a long amount of time.” 

However, with 100-degree weather hitting the area earlier in the year, local pet owners have their own ideas of beating the heat. 

“I carry a gallon of water with me when I’m walking my pet just in case there’s no water around,” said Catlin Swartz, a UA student and owner of a 15-month-old pug named Nibbler. “Pugs and other different breeds of dogs have to live in weather that’s under 90 degrees, so part of carrying a gallon of water is to pour some on my pet so he won’t overheat.”

However, the average rate of pets falling victim to heat strokes and other weather-related health issues are low, according to the PACC. 

By Carolyn Corcoran
Staff

The University of Arizona will sell alcohol at special events held in several buildings, pending the approval of liquor license applications.

With alcohol sales being restricted to seven UA buildings, university officials do not believe that the licenses will have repercussions on campus.

“It really doesn’t affect the campus at all,” said Joel Hauff, interim director for the Arizona Student Unions. “At the end of the day, it’s just procedural change for us.”

The seven buildings include the Student Union Memorial Center, Centennial Hall, Arizona State Museum, College of Fine Arts, Arizona Stadium, McClelland Hall and Biosphere 2. All have hosted events with alcohol before.

From fundraisers to skyboxes at the stadium, alcohol has previously been available if the establishment had obtained the necessary permit for the special event.

“We tend to have events fairly often in those buildings,” Hauff said.

The license will give UA the ability to sell alcohol at the buildings for special events without having to apply for individual permits.

By having a license, the application, wait time and permit fee are eliminated.

Though chatter about the licenses began last year, some community members have yet to be informed.

Jordi Carvalho, general manager of Wilko, a locally owned restaurant on University Boulevard, knew nothing about the pending licenses.

She predicts that the licenses will affect their pool of customers.

“They won’t pre-party here,” Carvalho said. “I think it will hurt the university strip as far as pre-party and post-party, but it’ll keep (the students) safe.”

By Hayleigh Daugherty
Staff

The average person visiting the University of Arizona probably would not guess that Jesuit priests, under the authority of the Vatican, have their observatory offices on campus. Those who have heard of the astronomers hold many misconceptions concerning the men of God studying the skies, according to Father Christopher Corbally.

“We are here to do good science for the church, not that the church has an agenda,” Corbally said. “We’re not looking for the aliens before anyone else so we can baptize them, despite headlines you will see.” 

Corbally, a Jesuit priest with his doctorate in astronomy, has been working in Arizona with the Vatican Observatory Research Group since 1984, just three years after it opened in Tucson. 

Not all claims against the Holy See’s astronomy team seem so far-fetched, however. With the popular stories in history textbooks focusing on the church’s opposition to Galileo, it’s easy to wonder if the Vatican’s astronomers allow Catholic dogma to interfere with research. Corbally insists this is as true as the search for extraterrestrial conversion.

“Science and theology go their own ways with their own methods,” Corbally said.

At the same time, faith is not completely abandoned from the Jesuit astronomers’ view of science. Science “doesn’t answer all the questions, the questions of the whole and the part,” he said. “We are very matter based, but not completely matter based, and that is what can’t be answered by chemistry or physics.” 

The Jesuits working at the university believe Christianity and astronomy work hand in hand. “A scientist who has faith finds joy not just in the discoveries but also finds joy that in sharing that discovery is sharing God’s own joy. … The religious scientist also joins in the joy of creation,” Corbally said. 

Professor Chris Impey, deputy head of the Department of Astronomy, has worked with the priests since 1986 and agrees that the notions of doctrine affecting research are completely false.