Zikr Dance Ensemble will honor CMU’s Visiting Instructor of Lighting and Scenic Design Loren Wilder at their upcoming performance.

Zikr and Wilder have a history of collaborating and Zikr’s closing piece “In Your Eyes” was originally commissioned by Wilder.

Wilder started her career as the lighting and scenic designer for the Snowmass Aspen Repertory Theatre. Over 20 years, she worked on tons of musicals and plays.

“It occurred to me that … none of the shows that I’m working on are really what I want to talk about in the theater,” Wilder said.

She began to develop her own show, “The Language of Light.” She describes the show as a “waking meditation” that took the audience through all of the chakras.

It featured amateur and professional dancers, from five-year-olds to high school and college dancers. Artistic Director of Zikr David Taylor was commissioned to create the final piece of the show, the “crown chakra.”

Wilder presented Taylor with her vision for the piece and the music. Wilder says that she likes to use popular music in her work. She wanted the piece set to the live version of “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel.

Taylor says that the upbeat nature of the song was different from his usual pieces.

“My work tends to be a little bit more solemn and profound in terms of music and lighting,” Taylor said. “So it was kind of a new sort of exploration for me and the audiences really liked it.”

In Zikr’s 17 year history, “In Your Eyes” has become a signature piece.

“We started to put ‘In Your Eyes’ at the end of the program and close with it because it’s such an upbeat piece of music and it’s happy and it’s joyful and audiences really seem to like it,” Taylor said.

The company revives the piece every three to four years. With their Spring 2026 performance coming to Grand Junction, Taylor reached out to Wilder and learned that she now teaches at CMU.

Taylor plans to honor her at the performance on April 17 by bringing her up on stage and pay her tribute.

Taylor and Wilder share an interest in exploring the spiritual aspects of dance.

Taylor worked on many classical and contemporary ballet pieces over the years that he describes as “popular and more accessible works”.

“But my real passion I found was exploring more of the transcendent aspect of dance,” Taylor said.

Taylor says that the western world often views dance as just a form of entertainment.

“But in many and most other parts of the world, it goes beyond that. It’s a profound expression of their culture, their beliefs. It’s ritualistic in terms of trying to affect certain forces around them,” Taylor said. “It’s a prayer.”

Wilder focuses her work on the idea of consciousness. She said that her three original shows are all about the idea that we are conscious creators.

“We’re the ones who create our own reality, and I’m trying to get people on board with that idea, because in my opinion, you can’t really change the world by stomping around with a sign. You can really only change the world if you change yourself,” Wilder said.

Wilder said she got into lighting design because she admired the combination of artistic and technical skills. The idea of light appealed to her because she love the idea of being full of light.

“It’s so ethereal, and it’s hard to grasp, and I really had to learn how to see, to use light,” Wilder said.

Wilder described her process of learning to see light.

“I’m learning how to see how light is falling in the space. On the actors, on the scenery. You know, am I helping the tell the story, or am I pulling away from the story?” Wilder said.

Wilder said that she has a special love for lighting dance shows.

“Dance shows have a particular freedom,” Wilder said. “It’s just so much different than the other areas that you might use lighting, because if you’re doing a play, there’s requirements in the play.”

In addition to “In Your Eyes”, Zikr’s show “Runes” will feature another piece by Taylor that was created last fall. The piece has 10 minutes of new choreography, new costumes and special effects. The show also includes pieces by several guest artists.

“I think people will really be blown away by the quality of the dancers,” Taylor said.

The show is April 17 at 7:30 pm at the Asteria Theatre. Zikr is offering discounted $10 tickets to CMU students.