Michigan Movement Performance Projects
May 12 – June 27, 2025
Updated February 3, 2025
Application Deadline: April 1, 2025
Designed and produced by Shannon Gillen, Associate Professor of Dance, Michigan Movement Performance Projects (MMPP) will operate as a professional company. Upending the training model of high costs and short time-frames, this rigorous program provides gifted dancers seven weeks of physical practice training, professional creation processes and performance opportunities, compositional mentorship and sharings, auditions and interactions with active companies in the US, and additional networking opportunities. Post pandemic, the dance landscape has shifted from singular coastal city hubs to robust companies, institutions and resources for rich and fulfilling careers across the US. MMPP champions Midwest talent, supporting artists 18+ seeking to advance the skills and experience necessary to thrive in the dance field, as well as networking opportunities to bring hiring companies into contact with extraordinary dancers each year.
In 2025, VIM VIGOR, an internationally renowned dance theater company and in-house company at the University of Michigan led by Shannon Gillen and Jason Cianciulli, will be joined by MARCAT, the artistic home for award-winning Spanish choreographer Mario Bermudez Gil and American co-founder Catherine Coury. Together VIM VIGOR and MARCAT will lead, nurture and inspire a select group of exceptional dancers from May 12 through June 27 for the 2025 Michigan Movement Performance Projects.
Program Faculty
Shannon Gillen
VIM VIGOR Co-founder & Artistic Director, Associate Professor of Dance
Jason Cianciulli
VIM VIGOR Co-choreographer & Co-founder, Lecturer in Dance
Mario Bermúdez
Marcat Dance Artistic Director and Choreographer
Catherine Coury
Marcat Dance Co-Founder and Co-Director
Shannon Gillen
VIM VIGOR Co-founder & Artistic Director, Associate Professor of Dance
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, Hubbard Street 2, Gibney Dance Company, over het lj in (NL), Jacob’s Pillow, agnes varis (NYC), arthur miller (mi), BDT at the ICA in Boston, Ruvuelo (Chile), Mainfranken Theater Würzburg (DE), Arts Umbrella in Vancouver (CA), the International Solo-Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart (DE), TIF theater in Kassel (DE), de dansers (NL), as a think big choreographer-in-residence at Staatsoper Hannover (DE) and at Princeton where she was a choreographer in residence; notable festivals and venues include Springboard Danse, 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. In 2024, Gillen created work for the IUA in Iceland and in 2025 she will create work for the University of Limerick and the IAB in Barcelona. Gillen is an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School and earned her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.
Jason Cianciulli
VIM VIGOR Co-choreographer & Co-founder, Lecturer in Dance
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.
Catherine Coury
Marcat Dance Co-Founder and Co-Director
Catherine Coury – co-founder and co-director of Marcat Dance and Festival Vildanza – is a principal dancer and the creative assistant of choreographer Mario Bermúdez, as well as a Gaga teacher (Ohad Naharin´s Movement Language) and Ilan Lev Practitioner.
Her interpretation as a dancer for Marcat Dance has been recognized with several awards such as “Best Female Contemporary Dancer” at the Escenarios de Sevilla (2023), the Lorca Awards (2023) and the PAD Awards in Seville (2020). She is the recipient of the 2024 Paul Boylan Award from the University of Michigan.
Dedicated to dance education, in 2019 Catherine began the first-ever Study Abroad Program with the University of Michigan in Spain, where students from the United States join professional European dancers to learn the Marcat Dance repertoire and technique.
Prior to Marcat Dance, Catherine lived and worked in New York City for five years freelancing with choreographers Shen Wei and Shannon Gillen. As a performer she toured internationally in venues including the Lincoln Center (NYC), Art Basel (Miami), Festival de Danse (Cannes), and Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre (Moscow), among others. As a dance administrator, Catherine played an integral role in the development of Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance and The Playground NYC. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Catherine received her BFA from the University of Michigan.
Mario Bermúdez
Marcat Dance Artistic Director and Choreographer
Mario Bermúdez, artistic director, choreographer, and dancer of Marcat Dance, is a prolific and multi-award-winning artist from Jaén who has developed his own language through movement, characterized by its dynamic physicality and emotional intensity. His acclaimed works are performed by his own company Marcat Dance as well as other leading dance companies around the world, including the National Dance Company of Spain, the National Dance Company of Wales, Hung Dance Taiwan and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, among others.
Since Bermúdez settled in Spain, he has been awarded with pieces created for Marcat Dance at the Spanish Academy Talía Awards (2024), MAX Awards (2023), Lorca Awards (2023, 2022, 2021), and PAD Awards (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019). In 2023, Mario received the Critical Eye Award from the National Radio of Spain.
Prior to Marcat Dance, Mario was a company member of Tel Aviv based Batsheva Dance Company (2012-2016). With Batsheva he performed work by Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Hofesh Shechter, and Roy Assaf, and danced in prestigious theaters around the world including the Opera National de Paris (Paris, France), Brooklyn Academy of Music (Brooklyn, NY), and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.). From 2010-2012 Mario was based in New York City and danced with Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance and Jennifer Muller/The Works. His training began at age 20 when he studied at Centro Andaluz de Danza in Sevilla, Spain from 2008-2010.
2025 MMPP Companies
Visiting Midwest Companies
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New Dialect (May 23-24)
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South Chicago Dance Theatre (May 30-31)
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LED BOISE (June 6-7)
About VIM VIGOR / Vision
VIM VIGOR is a physical dance theater company under the artistic direction of Shannon Gillen and co-choreographer Jason Cianciulli, and 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 the company in residence in the dance department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The company regularly engages with the students, local community, professional artists from around the world, and is in a development phase to build new platforms to support the artists residing in the Midwest.
Previous Works
SEPARATI / GK Arts Center (Brooklyn, NY) 2016; Jack Spear Theater (NYC) 2018
PUNCHLINE / b12 Festival, Dock ll (Berlin, DE) 2022; Arthur Miller Theater (US) 2022; Gibney Presents, Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center (NYC) 2022
Commissions
PASTORAL
Gibney Dance Company (NYC)
Agnes Varis Theater 2018
RUN FROM ME
L.A.D.P. (LA and France)
Los Angeles Dance Project
Artistic Director: Benjamin Millepied (2018)
Soft premiere Musco Center, Premiere Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris (2019)
MATAKI
MUD Art Dance Company (Nigeria)
Presented at: BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music in NYC), Outernet London (2022), and the Athens Video Dance Project (2022)
DON’T LET ME DOWN
Icelandic University of the Arts
Reykjavik, Iceland (2024)
About MARCAT / Vision
Marcat Dance is the artistic home for award-winning Spanish Choreographer Mario Bermudez Gil and American co-founder Catherine Coury. The Spain-based company is dedicated to sharing their creativity and joy of movement through creation, performance, and teaching opportunities around the world. We believe in the power of the imagination, creative risk-taking, and continuous research towards dynamic physicality. Marcat Dance connects to the human spirit and finds inspiration from world cultures, rituals, and landscapes.
Since 2016, the company performs, creates, and teaches around the world.
Previous Works
ANHELO / World premiere Teatro Romano at International Festival Italica, Sevilla, Spain July 9 & 10, 2019
ALANDA / World premiere Inbal Theater, Tel Aviv, Israel, June 2016
About New Dialect
In 2013, Banning formed New Dialect – responding to Nashville’s need for a professional contemporary dance company and community-centric resource that would support dancers, teaching artists, and choreographers, while providing new opportunities for local dance artists to collaborate and contribute to the larger national dance ecology. As a community organizer and director, she since has nurtured the creation of numerous dance programs and productions in Nashville. Through her leadership of New Dialect and significant contributions to contemporary dance in the South, Banning has received several honors and awards, including a two-time nomination for the United States Artist Fellowship.
As a freelance choreographer, she has been commissioned to create works for Visceral Dance Chicago, Springboard Danse Montréal, Northwest Dance Project, Whim W’Him, SALT Contemporary Dance Company, the Juilliard School, Gibney Dance Company, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts (Dallas), Groundworks Dance Theater, the Fine Arts Center Greenville, Middle Tennessee State University, and New Dialect. She has been featured in articles and interviews for Dance Magazine, The New York Times, Dance Teacher, and Dance Spirit magazine.
Banning is currently a research artist for the National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron, where she is investigating new frameworks for supporting dance through NCCAkron’s Creative Administration Residency (CAR). Her essay Causing a Scene: How I Helped Build the Contemporary Dance Ecosystem in My Hometown, details her experience forming New Dialect and will be published by the University of Akron Press in September 2024.
Guest Artist Bio
Banning is a dancer, choreographer, producer, and community organizer based in Nashville, TN.
She received her BFA from the Juilliard School in 2002, and spent the next decade performing internationally—working with Aszure Barton, Cullberg Ballet, Camille A. Brown, Mats Ek, Johan Inger, Hubbard Street, Lar Lubovitch, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Alexander Ekman, Jacquelyn Buglisi, Wen Wei Wang, and Robert Battle.
She was a soloist and choreographic assistant during her tenure with Aszure Barton and Artists from 2003-2010. In 2007, she began to research her own contemporary technique practice—developing an improvisation and non-binary partnering syllabus which she taught for two years at the Theatre de la Danse and Studio Harmonic in Paris. During that same time, she joined a small group of fellow Juilliard graduates to form Rumpus Room Dance, based in Portland, Oregon and Goteborg, Sweden. Together they co-created and performed two evening length site-specific dance works and were nominated one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 to Watch” in 2010.
In the Fall of 2010, Banning returned to her hometown, Nashville, where she was engaged as an instructor and choreographer for the Nashville Ballet and Vanderbilt University, developing the contemporary dance curricula for both training programs.
About South Chicago Dance Theatre
South Chicago Dance Theatre (SCDT) is a multicultural organization seamlessly fusing classical and contemporary dance styles as well as preserving historic dance work. With Choreographic Diplomacy™ at the heart of the organization, SCDT creates, performs, and teaches dance on a local, national, and international platform.
South Chicago Dance Theatre is firmly rooted on Chicago’s south side and in its first seven seasons has developed a global presence as a renowned dance company with repertory spanning a breadth of contemporary and historic choreographers. Led by founder, Resident Choreographer and Director of Vision and Strategy, Kia S. Smith, SCDT has been lauded “the next big thing to hit Chicago’s dance scene” by the Chicago Tribune and Smith was named one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch for 2024.
Prioritizing intergenerational learning and exchange, SCDT’s seven core programs utilize the art of dance to reframe trauma narratives through creative storytelling and replace dominant cultural narratives with community narratives. These creative initiatives include the Main Company, Associate Artist Program, Emerging Artist Program, Education and Community Programs, South Chicago Dance Festival, Choreographic Diplomacy™ program and Teen Workforce Development program. The art of dance empowers our community to resist oppression and foster collective healing.
Notable performances to date include SCDT’s sold out Harris Theater For Music and Dance debut in 2022, Kia S. Smith’s first evening length work Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley which coincided with SCDT’s debut at the preeminent Auditorium Theatre of Chicago in 2023, a mixed repertory program at the Auditorium Theatre of Chicago in 2024 and international tours to South Korea, the Netherlands and South America.
SCDT’s performances also span collaborations with lauded institutions such as Music of the Baroque, Giordano Dance Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, the Isaiah Spencer Collective, Isaiah Collier in the Chosen Few, Chicago Public Schools, Stony Island Arts Bank, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Opera Laguna, Choomna Dance Company and many others. Recent recognition includes receiving an award from the Mellon Foundation and the International Association of Blacks in Dance (2021), participating in the Allies For Community Business Neighborhood Entrepreneurship Lab for minority owned businesses on the city’ south and west sides (2022), receiving the African American Arts Alliance Black Excellence award for “Dance Company” (2021), support from the Princess Grace USA foundation (2021) and receiving the Chicago DCASE Foster Innovation Award (2021). Smith was also recently honored with a 3Arts Make A Wave Award (2021), a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award (2022) and a Choreographic Fellowship at the renowned Jacob’s Pillow (2021).
Guest Artist Bio
Kia S. Smith is a Chicago native and her early training included Hyde Park School of Dance, The Joel Hall Dance Center, ETA Creative Arts Foundation, StoryCatchers Theatre, and the American Dance Festival. She holds a BFA in Dance from Western Michigan University and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she was an Advanced Opportunity Program Fellow.
She is the Founder and Director of Vision and Strategy for South Chicago Dance Theatre, the company’s Resident Choreographer and the founder of its signature programs the Emerging Artist Program, South Chicago Dance Festival, Choreographic Diplomacy™ Program, Education and Community Programs and Teen Workforce Development Initiatives. As a freelance choreographer, Kia’s recent and upcoming commissions include Madison Ballet (2021), Chicago Repertory Ballet (2022), Houston Contemporary Dance Company (2023), Chicago Opera Theater (2023), Ruth Page Civic Ballet Training Company (2022), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2023), Giordano Dance Chicago (2023), Western Michigan University (2023), Southeast Missouri State University (2024), Opera Laguna (2024), New Dance Partners (2024), Resilience Dance (2024), Columbia College Chicago (2024) and Scottish Ballet School (2025). Kia’s first evening length work Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley for South Chicago Dance Theatre premiered at the Auditorium Theater of Chicago in 2023 and See Chicago Dance affirmed “Smith’s first evening length piece ‘Memoirs’ is a tour de force and a sensory immersion into this artists creative well springs”.
Kia is a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance where she received the Joan Myers Brown Artist Development Fund scholarship in 2018. In 2021, she was a 3Arts Make A Wave awardee and an Ann & Weston Hicks Choreographic Fellow at the renowned Jacobs Pillow. She was a 2022 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist and a participant in the Artist in Residence “AIR“ Program at the Cliff Dwellers Chicago. Kia was named a Rising Star in 2023 by Chicago Magazine, Player of the Moment in the category of Dance for New City Magazine’s annual 50 Players List in 2023 and one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch for 2024.
About LED BOISE
Shaped by the artistic vision of co-founders, Lauren Edson and Andrew Stensaas, LED weaves movement, original music, captivating stories and stunning visuals into cinematic worlds. Proudly based in Boise, Idaho, LED is a dance company, a music project, a film studio and so much more. Named by Dance Magazine as “25 to Watch” and described as, “virtuosic-eye candy that invites the audience into another world,” LED continues to redefine what an artistic encounter can look like and is a significant part of putting Boise on the map as a cultural hub.
Guest Artist Bio
Lauren Edson, originally from Boise, Idaho, is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of LED. She is a dancer, award-winning choreographer, producer and director. She received her training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Juilliard School and was a celebrated dancer with Trey McIntyre Project for many years. She returned to her hometown with the desire to build a community of artists and art-making practices that inspire risk-taking, greatness and sustainability.
Described as a “choreographer of the first rank,” by the Seattle Times, her works have been commissioned and presented by: the Kennedy Center (DC), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (MA), San Francisco Dance Film Festival (CA), Dance Camera West (CA), Winspear Opera House (TX), the McCallum Theater (CA), the Freeman Company (CA), Houston Metropolitan Dance (TX), Milwaukee Ballet (WI), Whim W’Him (WA), Ballet Idaho (ID), Northwest Dance Project (OR) and SALT Contemporary Dance (UT).
She received the 2022 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, is a 2021 Alexa Rose Fellow, a two-time recipient of the ICA Performing Arts Fellowship (2016, 2022), a 2023 choreographer of Dance Lab NY, winner of NWDP’s Pretty Creatives’ International Choreography Competition, the Grand Prize Winner of the McCallum Theater’s Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival, a United States Artist Fellowship nominee and recipient of the 2019 Washington Award for Excellence in Choreography.
What Participants Can Expect
- Programming from 9am to 5pm daily, with evening research hours and Saturday workshops / auditions.
- Rigorous and diverse physical training, somatic and cross training practices.
- The creation of four original works. Participants will have the opportunity to be in two new works allowing them to be in exchange with both choreographers who are active in the professional world. All works are filmed.
- Compositional mentorship for participants throughout the program with final creations being shared and filmed.
- Additional networking with national companies and artists through showings, talk backs, workshops, auditions and professional development seminars.
- This term will culminate in outward facing performances, free and open to the Ann Arbor community.
Each year, VIM VIGOR will be joined by changing professional company, creating an intimate arena for rigorous physical research, creation processes, compositional mentorship, interaction with hiring companies through weekend workshops and auditions, and professional development seminars. All works will be performed for the public free of charge, uplifting the greater Southeast Michigan cultural landscape. Performances and participant compositional research will be professionally filmed, providing MMPP artists with necessary assets to bolster their resumes and reels for future work. We believe strongly in providing the skills and tools necessary to advance in the dance field, while also broadening and enriching what dance is today.
Physical Practice + Somatic Training
Diverse physical practice courses drawing from the modalities of the artists’ involved including Contemporary Movement, Floorwork, Partnering, and Improvisation. Additional somatic courses will provide cross training and wellness practices.
Composition Mentorship
Dancers will receive ongoing compositional mentorship to create solos and small group works during the program – these works will be shared with the community and filmed for each artists’ reel.
Professional Creative Processes + Performance Opportunities
Choreographic processes will be created in the atmosphere of a professional company, where dancers will learn to train rigorously, thrive in rehearsal settings, embody and devise material, create through collaborative exchange, and perform challenging ensemble works that advance their technical and artistic acumen.
Building Networks
Participating artists will build meaningful relationships with choreographers working in the field, which will serve their prospects when seeking employment. This program will bolster U-M’s presence in the dance world at large and support future professional partnerships.
Company Networking, Auditions + Professional Development
Several companies and artists will come to offer showings, workshops and auditions during the program to support dancers as they develop the necessary professional tools, materials and practices to thrive in the dance / dance theater market.
Our home at the University of Michigan possesses a distinct advantage in providing premier training and professional development opportunities to both its current students and external candidates during our Spring Term. By implementing an innovative approach to program design, this period will prioritize skill development in professional areas essential to the current market demands.
2025 Dates & Deadlines
Program Dates: May 12 – June 27, 2025
Final Application Deadline: April 1, 2025
Location:
University of Michigan Dance Building
1000 Baits Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Program Tuition
$3200 total for seven weeks ($457/week)
Applicants will need to pay a $1600 deposit to secure their spot in the program.
Once you have been accepted, you will be contacted by the Office of Engagement & Outreach to process your tuition payment. Please note that no meals, housing, or transportation are included in the tuition price. Housing arrangements and travel arrangements are at the discretion of each participating artist. We will provide a list of available short term leases and will connect participants to encourage carpooling.
Application Requirements
Those wishing to participate in the Michigan Movement Performance Projects should complete the application by including the following:
- A professional resume
- 2-3 minute audition video of you moving (no short clips)
Applicants should be aware that there is a non-refundable $35 application fee in addition to the program’s tuition cost.
There will be no in-person audition for this program, so please share footage that best represents you. Please note, that dancers must be at least 18 years old, but that there is no age limit. All participants should be advised that this is advanced and immersive professional training, and while we accept and value a range of experience, expect to be challenged every day.
Please email [email protected] if you have any questions regarding the application process.
Contact Us
Office of Engagement & Outreach-Youth & Adult Programs
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
Stearns Building │ 2005 Baits Drive │ Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Phone: 734-936-2660
Email: [email protected]
Emails and phone lines are monitored at the following times
Monday – Friday, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm EST