VIM VIGOR
Ann Arbor, MI
Shannon Gillen - director, co-choreographer
Jason Cianciulli - co-choreographer
Creators: KAIROS (2024)
Biographies
Shannon Gillen is the artistic director of VIM VIGOR (US). Her creative work has been commissioned across the USA, Canada, Central America, South America and Europe. Projects include commissions by L.A. Dance Project, dance.films for BAM, NY Fashion Week, Danceworks at the Lobero Theatre, Gibney Dance Company, Zagreb Dance Company, Hubbard Street 2, Resilience Dance, over het lj in (NL), Jacob's Pillow Festival, Boston Dance Theater at the ICA in Boston, Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, b12 Festival at dock 11, (DE) Ruvuelo (Chile), Mainfranken Theater Würzburg (DE), Arts Umbrella (CA), the International Solo-Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart (DE), the TIF theater in Kassel (DE), de dansers (NL), as a think big choreographer-in-residence at Staatsoper Hannover (DE) and at Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton where she was a choreographer in residence; notable festivals and venues where her work has been seen include Springboard Danse festival in Montreal, New York Live Arts, Prisma Festival in Panama, Judson Church, PULSE art fair/Art Basel, Bryant Park, NYC's River to River festival, Perry Mansfield, and The Joyce. Gillen's recent commissions include the IUA in Reykjavik, Iceland, the b12 Festival in Berlin, the Institute of the Arts Barcelona (ES), Michigan Movement Performance Projects (M2P2), and Vassar College. Coming up, she will create a new work with Zagreb Dance Company in Croatia that will tour in Europe, create new works for The University of Limerick in Ireland, LUZ / SITGES in Spain, MAVERICKS in Berlin, and return to create new works for the IAB (ES) and for Michigan Movement (M2P2), an annual contemporary training and creation program held at UM in May 2026. In 2025, Gillen's dance company VIM VIGOR established a new hub for contemporary performance training and research in Ann Arbor called Arts Assembly A2. This space provides local access to high calibre contemporary training for youth, pre-professional, and adults, from beginner through professional. Gillen is an Associate Professor of Dance at U-M, where she finds boundless inspiration from the rising artists in the department. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and earned her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.
Jason Reese C. is a Psycho-Physical Theatre Artist whose research is grounded in Floorwork, Partnering and Physical Theatre. He is a teacher, performer, bodyworker and creator who aims to make worlds, sculpt space and tell stories. As an international performer he has worked throughout the United States and many other countries, including Canada, Panama, Germany, and Romania. He holds a License in Massage Therapy in both Michigan and Pennsylvania, working in Swedish, Deep Tissue, Craniosacral, and Myofascial Release Techniques. Jason is a co-choreographer with VIM VIGOR. He holds a BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase and an MFA in dance from the University of Michigan. After receiving his BFA, Jason returned to SUNY Purchase to teach as a lecturer. With VIM he has taught at various institutions throughout the globe, creating work and teaching VIM’s Physical Dance Theater Methodology. He most previously was teaching at the University of Iceland. Jason was a Performer and Rehearsal Director with the iconic immersive show, Sleep No More NYC.
More About VIM VIGOR
VIM VIGOR is a physical dance theater company is one of USA's most cutting edge dance-theater companies.
Following a successful run in Germany as both a choreographer and dancer, Shannon Gillen returned to New York City to form VIM VIGOR. Founded as a collaborative think tank, VIM is a platform for profoundly gifted artists from around the world to come together to create cutting edge dance theater. Through its creations, VIM seeks to broaden the traditional dance audience with its signature combination of bombastic contemporary movement and theater in cinematic dreamscapes.
VIM VIGOR is now situated as a resident artist company in the dance department at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The company now regularly engages with the students and local community, and is in a development phase for new platforms to support the artists residing in the Midwest.
Our collective training comes from The Juilliard School, SUNY Purchase, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Brown University, Berklee College of Music, U-M Ann Arbor. We have taught at universities and institutions around the world and now proudly serve in the dance department here at the University of Michigan here in Ann Arbor, MI.
From inside the piece: Josiah Gundersen on dancing in VIM VIGOR's work
Dancing VIM VIGOR's work feels like letting go and allowing the intensity of the dance to take me to a new place spiritually. A place of questioning how far we can push ourselves while still maintaining control. A place where energy spirals through our bodies until that vibrancy envelops us all.
