Dean Golden Wright celebrates LU milestone with anniversary concert
A 20-year milestone at Lamar University will come to life, May 1 and 2, as the College of Fine Arts and Communication celebrates Dean Golden Wright’s legacy with a concert that brings together alumni and students in a celebration of legacy and performance.
The concert marks two decades since Wright’s arrival at the university, and features re-staged choreography and collaborative works performed by dancers spanning his tenure.
Wright said the idea developed over years of conversations with alumni who wanted to return to the stage.
“This seemed like an appropriate time, 20 years, to get everybody back together,” he said.
The production eventually grew into a large-scale event involving alumni from every stage of Wright’s career at Lamar.
“I have alumni that were here at every single year of the 20 years,” he said. “Seeing them back on stage, performing with them, that was a vision that I wanted.”
The program draws from Wright’s choreographic history, including works performed at national festivals and internationally in Taiwan. Rather than following a single theme, the concert is designed to offer audiences a range of emotional experiences.
“I want you to feel a certain thing,” Wright said. “(Some) I want you just to experience and relax and take yourself out of reality for a few minutes. Other ones, I want you to feel touched. Others, I want you to be wowed.”
Wright originally planned to perform in just one piece, but now appears in six.
“It’s been amazing and exhausting at the same time,” he said.
For recent graduate Chloe Parker, returning to the stage feels both familiar and changed as she performs alongside alumni and current students. She said LU’s program offered more than others.
The community that I could see during auditions with the students was something that I was very drawn to,” she said.
That sense of community, she said, became especially important during her time as a student. Parker said faculty and peers supported her through personal challenges.
“They let me heal within the space and let me dance,” she said. “It helped me connect with everyone and understand that these people are here to help and become friends.”
Performing as an alumna carries a different perspective, Parker said.
“I don’t see everyone every day now, so now it’s like I’ve had to go on and do other things,” she said.
The anniversary concert includes reworked pieces that blend alumni and current students in the same works, creating layered performances that reflect multiple generations of dancers.
“We have one piece that has black lights and neon paint that glows in the dark,” Parker said. “There’s a lot of partnering, and there’s a lot of dances that don’t have partnering.”
Parker said her training at Lamar prepared her for life after graduation through both technical and professional development.
“The responsibility and the discipline that you get from the program has definitely helped shape me,” she said.
Wright said his career at Lamar began unexpectedly when he arrived as a visiting lecturer, expecting to stay only a year. He later became tenure-track faculty, then department chair, then, eventually, dean.
“When you’re visiting, you’re filling holes,” Wright said. “When you’re on a tenure track, you’re trying to prove yourself. Now that I’m dean, it’s all about everybody else first.”
Beyond performance, the concert also serves a philanthropic purpose.
“All the proceeds from this concert will go towards a scholarship in dance,” he said. “That’s something that can still touch the lives after you’ve moved on.”
Wright said the most meaningful part of his career has been watching students grow from their first days on campus to graduation.
“Meeting a student for the first time when they step foot on campus, and then watching them walk across the stage in regalia, I think that’s pretty amazing,” he said.
Parker said students should make the most of the sense of connection in the dance program.
“Enjoy while you have it,” she said. “Once you move on, you sometimes lose that sense of community.”
The anniversary concert serves as both celebration and reflection — linking generations of dancers through shared movement, mentorship and memory on stage.
Showtimes are 7:30 p.m., May 1 and 2. For tickets, visit lutd.ludus.com.
