Samantha Mecca

Samantha Mecca (she/her), Professor, School of Music, Theatre & Dance, is a scholar, practitioner, and collaborative musician both in the fields of dance and in popular music studies. Samantha was the first transgender and Latina chair of the Department of Dance (2019-2025), and developed a pedagogical tool, The Kinesthetic Fingerprint, to teach dancers and musicians how to collaborate and work more effectively in the creation of new work and in the staging of legacy works. She has worked with and learned from numerous renowned companies and dance artists of the mid-to-late 20th century and as Christian Matjias she released five albums of original compositions; and as Christian Matijas-Mecca she has authored books on Brian Wilson and on Psychedelic Music. Samantha, herself a first-generation university student, continues to expand and diversify the educational experience for all students. Recent projects and investigations include Soul Music in Detroit, post-Motown, (from 1968-1977), and the music of the late English songwriter and artist, Kirsty MacColl.