SOCIAL INTERACTIONS: Princeton University students Olivia Taylor ’26, Emily Phillips ‘28. and Hope Gantt ‘28 in rehearsal for senior Madalyn Mejia’s new dance work, “In relation to.” (Photo by Jon Sweeney)

In relation to, a new work choreographed by Princeton University senior Madalyn Mejia, will be performed on February 19, 20, and 21 at 8:30 p.m. in the Hearst Dance Theater at Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University campus. Tickets are free. Visit arts.princeton.edu.

Inspired by her studies in sociology, Mejia describes the work as driven by a curiosity about how social relationships shape the individual. The choreography considers how individual and group identities are created, negotiated, and reshaped by ongoing interactions. She notes that visibility, manifested by the dancers interacting with a series of opaque and translucent dividers on stage, is a key element in the work: what is seen, what remains obscured, and how perception shapes social reality. With each iteration, she says, the social world crystallizes, inviting the audience to reflect on their own role in the production of meaning.

Mejia is a resident of Chesapeake, Va., majoring in sociology and pursuing a minor in the Lewis Center’s Program in Dance. Her dance training began in her hometown at the Academy of Classical and Contemporary Dance, where she danced for 15 years. She also studied under Elbert Watson for several years. She has performed in works by Rebecca Lazier and Brian Brooks in Princeton Dance Festivals. Through the support of the Lewis Center’s Yang and Hutton Funds, Mejia notes she has had the opportunity to explore movement within global contexts. A formative summer in India deepened her understanding of the relationship between mind and body as expressed through movement. She further expanded her training by studying dance at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Md. On campus, she is a dancer, choreographer, and former president of eXpressions Dance Company. She also mentors first-year students in her roles as a peer academic advisor and an Outdoor Action leader.

The Program in Dance, now in its 55th year, has grown to include five full-time and nine adjunct faculty and offers 18 different courses serving more than 400 students each year with a curriculum that includes introductory courses, courses suited for dancers at the pre-professional level, as well as courses in dance studies and interdisciplinary contemporary practices. Seniors minoring in dance undertake a course of study and performance, co-curricular classes, technical hours, and an independent project such as choreographing a new work, performing a new or repertory work by a professional guest choreographer or faculty member, or a work of dance scholarship.