This year’s Lothridge Festival of Dance is set to take place in the Nott Memorial during the Steinmetz Symposium on Friday, May 8, 2026. The annual performance brings together dancers and choreographers from across the campus in a vibrant showing of movement, creativity, and shared expression.
A longtime highlight of the Steinmetz Symposium, the festival transforms the Nott into a space of artistic exchange and communal celebration, drawing performers and audience members together through dance.
This year’s performances will feature 70 Union dancers across 13 pieces spanning a range of dance styles and traditions. Shaped through weeks of rehearsal, research, and collaborative processes, the performances include original choreography by dance minors Elizabeth Cardenas ’28, Melanie De La Cruz ’26, Ava DuBoff ’26, Anthony Montás ’26, Paisley Parmenter ’27, Jennifer Vil ’26, and faculty choreography by Laurie Zabele Cawley, the Gustave L. Davis ‘59 & Susan S. Davis Director of Dance.
“The Lothridge Dance Festival is a celebration of student artistry and expression,” shared Cawley about the concert. “What emerges is not just a dance performance, but a lived experience of community, where individuality and collective expression coexist and give shape to something larger than any one voice.”
Six campus dance clubs and teams will also be represented in this year’s showcase: Bhangra Union, Dance Team, JAIVA Afrovibes, Hip Hop, K-pop, and Latin Dance. These pieces are choreographed by various club choreographers, namely, Ashlesha Bhagat ’26, Maggie Buckley ’26, Paige Fox ’27, Alldyn Gotora ’28, Hannah Kimball ’26, Audrey Langlois ’28, Hades Panilio ’26, Nathan Ramachandran ’26, Alicia Rose ’27, Sienna Chambial ’27, Merari Rios-Tovar ’26, Armaan Uppal ’26, Narayani ’28, Anna Zusi ’26, and special guest Melokuhle Zuma.
“For JAIVA, performing during Steinmetz at Union means being able to bring songs and movement from cultures across the Black diaspora and share it with others,” stated Rose, a JAIVA choreographer. “To share something as special as culture through formations, music, and conscious body movement, because words aren’t always enough, is such a beautiful feeling that never gets old.”
In this very spirit, the annual festival also serves as a culminating moment within the wider spirit of the Steinmetz Symposium, where students across disciplines present the work they have developed throughout the academic year.
“I started choreographing out of my love for Bhangra, and getting a platform to share and represent my culture here at Union—and what better opportunity to present our performance than on Steinmetz day, which is all about presenting,” expressed Narayani, PR chair and choreographer of Bhangra Union.
Energy and enthusiasm surrounding the event are at an all-time high, just a week before the performance, and the 70 students involved are eager to share their pieces with the broader Union audience. Make sure you check it out with your friends on May 8 at 4 PM.
Note: The performance is supported by a gift from Charles Lothridge in memory of his parents, William (Class of 1879) and Anna. Additional sponsors include Joan and David Henle ’75; Sue and Dr. Gus Davis ’59; and the Gail and Carl George Annual Fund.
Other members contributing to its success include this year’s stage managers, Claire Knecht ’26 and Isabella Rossi ’29, technical director Andrew Bodd, costume coordinator Brittney Belz, shop manager Kevin Miller, and Work Study students and departments across campus.
