Athena will research the construction of nation-states and dance's role in both the creation and deconstruction of those concepts, to be articulated in the form of a dance piece. They will be attending the Polis and Citizen workshop at Epidauros Lyceum in Greece, to understand how ideas of nationhood are mapped onto ideas of theater dance, performing on Griffon Dance Company's Chaos and Order piece at Epidauros. They will also be working at a community center on Samos for asylum seekers awaiting refugee status, working to understand the situation better and contribute to immediate relief, while also trying to find ways that dance can contribute to a "choreopolitics of freedom" and deconstruction of the idea of an exclusive nation-state in solidarity with refugees on Samos and Greece. They are working on a new dance piece now to embody those ideas.

Advisor: Patricia Ybarra