Event details

Seniors will describe their independent choreographic projects and hold a workshop to introduce prospective cast members to their choreographic processes. All interested students should come prepared to move, meet other dancers, and have fun!

The workshop will begin with a warmup. Each choreographer will talk about their piece and then explore some movement with you as a group. Afterwards, choreographers will reach out to assess your interest. Please note that you can only be cast in one project of a double bill, and not in back-to-back shows. Rehearsals are typically once per week in the fall and twice a week in the spring semester at a time mutually agreed upon by the cast and choreographer. The residency/tech and performance week will entail more rehearsal time, TBA.

Join the Workshop

The workshop is free and open to all interested Princeton students. No registration required.

Directions

Get directions to Hearst Dance Theater, located on the Forum level of the Lewis Arts complex.

Accessibility

The Hearst Dance Theater is an accessible venue. Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information at our various locations. Students in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.

About the Seniors & Their Choreographic Projects

Maddie Rohde '27. Photo by Angel Chang Liu

Maddie Rohde

This piece will explore fundamental scientific principles of quantum mechanics, bonding, gravity, and orbit, mapping them onto bodies through coexisting structures, cause and effect relations, and patterns that trend towards chaos. The movement will be primarily rooted in contemporary dance, emphasizing spiraling, momentum, and resistance, and will involve group contact work. For more information, please contact Maddie at mr3100@princeton.edu.

Karolina Rokka '27. Photo by Angel Chang Liu

Karolina Rokka

This piece examines Greek national identity through a dance work that blends ballet and contemporary inspired movement qualities with elements of traditional Greek movement and music. Drawing from Greek music, rhythm, and cultural movement vocabularies, the process invites dancers to investigate how tradition can evolve through openness, collaboration, and creative expression. Absolutely no prior experience with Greek culture or dance is required—the project is rooted in accessibility, curiosity, and the belief that dance can bridge cultures and people in meaningful ways. As someone from Greece, I am especially enthusiastic to embark on this project and share elements of Greek culture through a process that is playful, dynamic, and deeply collaborative. Expect an environment centered on creativity, exploration, and fun.

Somiya Schirokauer '27. Photo by Angel Chang Liu

Somiya Schirokauer

This work will explore the intimacy, trust, and vulnerability developed between individuals engaging in collaborative creative processes, using a contemporary movement vocabulary with a focus on contact, weight-bearing, and gaze. In addition, the piece will examine the role of a dancer within choreographic processes, as they both execute a choreographer’s vision and shape the piece themselves through their choices and movement quality. If interested, please reach out to Somiya at ss6363@princeton.edu!

Mariel Shapiro '27. Photo by Angel Chang Liu

Mariel Shapiro

This piece investigates the uniqueness of individual memory and explores forgetting as a process of curation rather than loss. Through this perspective, the work reflects on how we build communities in order to preserve what is most important. The movement explores connection and individuality through contemporary vocabulary, highlighting rhythm, floor work, and group contact. To learn more, please contact Mariel at marielshapiro@princeton.edu

Gisele Sonnier '27. Photo by Angel Chang Liu

Gisele Sonnier

Premiering in Spring 2027, this original composition will engage a speculative dialogue informed by Black studies and expressed through dynamic movement. Engaging 5-6 dancers, the work will draw upon contemporary, modern, and diasporic forms to construct a hybrid, rigorously informed movement language. Featuring projection work created in collaboration with Ela Gebremariam ‘27, a multi-disciplinary artist in the Department of African American Studies, dancers will reclaim permission to be more than a singular being, asking what it would mean to both inhabit and move through traditionally restrictive forms. Understanding the body as an archive of historical memory, learned forms, and embodied refusals, we will employ our individual multiplicities to reframe the stakes of inherited knowledge and form a collective reimagining of aesthetic expression.