The lights dim. The crowd of friends and families starts to roar. The ground vibrates as music echoes from the speakers. Dancers take the stage.
There's a dynamic energy to DanceFest, the annual spring showcase that provides a venue for Lehigh dance groups to perform.
The event, at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 18, attracts hundreds of students, faculty and families who will come to see 18 acts, from swing dance to African Renaissance.
But it's more than just dance numbers. The event provides a space where students from all personal and academic backgrounds exhibit their passions, and they are celebrated for it.
DanceFest is entirely student-run, from the host to the photographers, to the choreographers — it’s not just a showcase of talent, but also student leadership.
I participate in DanceFest, but I am one of three students working behind the scenes to make the magic happen, so you won’t see me screaming with the crowd.
As a theatre student, I work in Baker Hall as a wage employee. I assist with the load-in and load-out of touring shows, operate the light board during shows and run the fly system, a giant system of pulleys and ropes that lets us move scenery on stage.
I essentially make sure the show that’s on the Baker stage looks correct, is set up correctly and runs smoothly.
For DanceFest this year, I am running the light board. All dance groups meet with Justin Burns, Zoellner’s lighting coordinator to decide how they want their lights to look for each moment of the dance. He then “programs” the lights into a list of “cues” that are played as the group performs. My job is to “play back” all 600 of the different cues to the specific timing as the groups perform. I make sure the lights do what the groups want, when they want.
Baker Hall is unique because it doesn’t just present Department of Music shows. Baker has its own presenting series that brings in national tours. This gives students real-world experiences in the live entertainment industry and the chance to learn from industry professionals.
I’ve been working at Baker Hall since January 2024, and I’ve met some of the best people ever.
I don’t consider any of this my “job.” Baker Hall is my family, the means to do work I love and a way to bring students from across disciplines together.
I never planned on becoming a theatre major, but when I got to Lehigh and started taking classes and met the faculty and staff, I knew I was called to this field.
The small theatre department has given me countless opportunities to take on multiple leadership positions such as directing, stage managing and being an electrician. My love for theatre was strong before I came to Lehigh, but after I found my mentors, I hardly ever leave the Zoellner Arts Center.
Lehigh is known as a business and engineering school. There are about 25 student wage employees at Baker Hall, and only six theatre majors and eight music majors at Lehigh. This means the majority of students who study and work in the Zoellner Arts Center are not arts majors.
This exemplifies why the arts at Lehigh are so strong.
The people who fill the arts center are there to fuel their passions and their extracurriculars, providing them a break from the lab and the library. The lack of academic requirements is what fills Zoellner’s halls with joy, laughter and familiarity.
Passion-led participation is how the arts at Lehigh thrive. We are there because we want to be.
This is why DanceFest is so close to my heart: it is the prime example of this system at work.
Dance groups not only bring a range of dance types, but also diverse multicultural numbers in front of the university to be celebrated, all as extracurricular accomplishments.
We are given a chance to not only cheer for our friends, but also learn about different cultures and be mindful of how many students at Lehigh come from different backgrounds.
This year, a new dance group called Anbyans is taking the stage.
A part of the Caribbean Culture Club, Anbyans embodies the Haitian Creole word for “Ambience,” and it presents soca, zouk, dancehall, kompa, raboday, reggaeton and traditional dances.
Sofia Rousseau ‘25 joined this group and will be performing in DanceFest this year to celebrate her culture, and it means so much to her that Caribbean dance will be presented for the first time.
“It means everything. It’s so much fun. I feel like dance is just a part of culture. Showcasing art and how we express ourselves with kompa, dancehall, zouk, it’s just so exciting.”
What’s so inspiring about DanceFest, and the arts in general, is that it is put together by every student who truly thinks of this work as a passion and loves what they do. Every person who works on DanceFest is there because it brings us joy.
The person running the video projections is a mechanical engineer. The house manager assistant is a psychology major. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences.
DanceFest is a reminder to those in Zoellner that the support for the arts at Lehigh is there and thriving. The ear-piercing screams let us know our work is seen and supported.
So, on behalf of those who work behind the scenes, thank you for your support, and remember: We’re (internally) screaming along with you for your friends.