2008 MIT Open Ballroom Dance Competition
Venue
The competition will take place on the MIT campus in the Rockwell Cage on Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20th, 2008. The Rockwell Cage is located at 106 Vassar Street, southwest of Vassar Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, MA. In other words, it is the same venue as we used last year. This venue is significantly larger than venue used in 2003 and earlier. The floor layout can be viewed here.
Parking
Ample free parking is available in parking lots on the MIT campus close to the competition. Maps are available on this webpage. The nearest parking lot is West Garage off Vassar Street. Note that the Main Lot, which is accessed by going under Building 39, on Vassar Street, is off-limits 24-hours a day. MIT Department of Transportation policy applies to all visitors on MIT-related business.
Map/Directions
Come to MIT. Here’s how to get to MIT according to MIT’s homepage. You might also try searching for 84 Massachusetts Avenue on mapquest.
Enter Rockwell Cage via 106 Vassar Street. Rockwell Cage, part of the Zesiger Athletics Complex (a.k.a. Z Center. Come to the southern corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Vassar Street. Go southwest on Vassar. On your left, after passing two puildings, you will find a beautiful pathway that leads to the Zesiger Athletics enterance. Make an immediate left through the turnstiles, and you’re in Rockwell! Welcome!
If you’re still reading this, then obviously you are lost, but you don’t have to admit that to your significant other just yet. First, make sure that you are at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not the Manukau Institute of Technology in New Zealand. Second, make sure that you actually did start on Massachusetts and Vassar. If you see an outdoor track and field area to your left, then you have simply walked past the beautiful pathway. Head back. If instead you see a gas station on the left or you see the Charles River, then you are on Massachusetts Ave. Head back to the intersection and turn away from the morning sun or towards the afternoon sunshine. If you see a newly paved sidewalk with a slightly futuristic bikepath followed by a grotesque building, then you are on Vassar but going the wrong direction. Reverse course.
If you are lost somewhere in MIT in Cambridge, MA, just ask any student to point you towards the Student Center. (They should know if they are real MIT students.) Once you get to the front of the Student Center, face away from Massachusetts Avenue so that you'll have the Student Center on your right and a green lawn (Kresge Oval) on your left. Walk. You'll find the Zesiger entrance, just north of Kresge Lot. Incidentally, in the Student Center you can find food, Bank of America ATM's, and a MIT Coop store.
Find Rockwell Cage inside Zesiger. Zesiger's homepage has directions to Rockwell, but it just says the following. Proceed down the main concourse. You will see a customer service desk on your right. Go through the turnstiles, past the customer service desk. Go through the doorway into Rockwell Cage.
Just in case the above doesn't work for you:
Driving from North or South of Boston
Take I-93 to the Cambridge/Storrow Drive exit (exit 25). Follow Storrow Drive along the Charles river and exit onto Massachusetts Avenue (left exit). (Be careful to stay on Storrow Drive, as there are a couple left exits prior to Mass Ave that may get you lost.) After you cross the river on Massachusetts Avenue, you will see a Bank of America ATM outpost on the right just after the third set of lights (watch them - the lights are very close to one another... if you get to the railroad tracks, you have gone too far). Park somewhere or in the designated parking lot on Vassar Street across the Zesiger Athletics Complex.
Driving from West of Boston:
Take I-90 East (Mass Turnpike) to exit 18 (Cambridge/Allston). Bear right after the toll booth at the end of the exit ramp. Following the signs to Cambridge, cross the River Street Bridge, and continue straight about 1 mile to Central Square. Turn right onto Massachusetts Avenue and follow Massachusetts Avenue for about half a mile until you reach Vassar Street. The Bank of America ATM outpost will be on your left, just prior to Vassar Street. Park somewhere or in the designated parking lot on Vassar Street across the Zesiger Athletics Complex. If you cross the river again, you have gone too far.
