Wyn Caudle
Business Manager
On Nov. 7 in McGaw Chapel, students, staff, faculty and community members watched the lights dim as the 2026 Culture Show, hosted by International Student Services (ISS), began. The first group to take the stage was the College’s Pipe Band. Featuring three songs, the five performers hyped up audience members, concluding their performance with “Scotland the Brave,” a song College of Wooster students are very familiar with.
The hosts of this year’s Culture Show were Willona Asare Ayesu ’28 and Fatima Gilani ’27, who thanked the Pipe Band for their entrance before sharing a land acknowledgment honoring the Indigenous Peoples’ land that the College is built on. Before moving on to the first performance, Asare Ayesu and Gilani conversed, posing the question: “What does Culture Show mean to you?”
Next, Chasing International Dance Team took the stage with fire. The team brought energy with their sharp moments during the dance. Their performance included many high-energy songs such as “Pn de Replay,” “Mi Gente” and “Sao Paulo.”
Following Chasing was Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Viktoria Gevorgyan, who performed a dance combining both traditional and modern Armenian dance styles to the song about the river Araks. The dancer glided across the stage as the song played in Armenian with both English and Armenian subtitles projected on the screen.
After Gevorgyan, Ballroom Dance Club took the stage with six performers doing three dances: Smidje, a Belgian folk dance, a waltz and a dramatic tango. Each pair circled the stage, shifting their footwork to match each distinct dance style before a final bow.
Louise Fenny ’27 and Naledi Jani ’27 captured the audience’s attention with their duet of the song “Anondichengeta,” a Shona Zimbabwean song about ascent. The duo sang harmoniously in Shona as the audience took their phones out and waved their flashlights along.
Next up, the Japanese Student Association (JSA) began with a performance of Soran-Bushi, a traditional folk dance where the performers would call out as if they were working on fishing boats. Audience members were then encouraged to turn on their phone flashlights for the second song to emulate glow sticks that are commonly used with Japanese idol performances. Both dances had the performers and audience members cheering and adding to the overall energetic atmosphere.
Before the final performances preluding intermission, Asare Ayesu and Gilani did a call and response with the audience repeating back some of the lyrics previously heard during JSA’s performance.
The next performance began with Gia Hilal ’28 singing “Ya Helou,” which transitioned into a group performance of Arabian-style belly dancing to a few different songs.
Three dancers left the stage, making room for the Pakistani Attan Dance. Dancers formed a circle and moved together to upbeat music before coming forward and posing, closing out the first half of the culture show.
After intermission, Athea Surbeck ’27, Laura Park ’27 and Caitlyn Sipin ’29 entered the stage in conversation about a ‘rumored romance’ in their community. Their performance featured two songs, the first being “Kundiman,” a love story from the perspective of a Filipino boy and “Oh PagIBig” a love story from the perspective of the girl.
Echo Choom followed the trio, featuring a total of 14 dancers with high-energy dancing featuring songs such as “Rude!,” “XO” and a full-group dance of “Gangnam Style.”
Kamila Kadirova ’28 and Haruka Ueda ’28 began their Uzbek dance with a projection behind them showing imagery and moments of community. Partway through, while they were on the stage performing Lazgi (a style of dance known for energetic and expressive moments), lyrics appeared, creating a more lively atmosphere. They also performed an Andijan Polka, which was characterized by its high energy, even getting the audience members involved.
Latina Undias showcased many different styles of dance, including salsa, bachata, dembow, merengue, Brazilian pop, cumbia and reggaeton, finishing with a flag dance. While each dance was being performed, the screen behind the dancers shared the name of the style of dance and the song it was performed to.
South Asian Committee (SAC) took the stage with 24 dancers, featuring multiple dances to Bollywood and South Indian dance styles. One of the dances had a call-and-response aspect where one side of the stage did a movement first, then the other side did it back to them, all the while encouraging the audience to clap and join in the festivities.
The final group to perform was African Student Union (ASU), who featured dance styles from all across Africa, including an Ethiopian dance, Gurage-style dance, Afrobeats dance and a Ghanaian-style dance, all bringing bright energy to the stage which both the dancers and audience members could feel.
Asare Ayesu and Gilani gave a final address after ASU exited the stage, thanking ISS Assistant Director Melissa Hartman and Director Scott Parillo for helping make Culture Show happen, then the audience for coming and performers for sharing. As the performance concluded, audience members left buzzing about the show they had just seen.