VIM VIGOR
For over a decade, VIM VIGOR has served as an international nexus for performing arts research, creation, and exchange. Founded by Shannon Gillen, the platform creates, educates, and performs worldwide through live performance, immersive installation, film, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Grounded in the belief that we learn by doing and we are through action, VIM VIGOR investigates human behavior, identity, and social connection through movement, dance theater methodologies, and conceptual choreographic practice. Bridging artistic research with bold performance, the company creates cinematic, physically rigorous works that dissolve the boundaries between dance, theater, sound, and environment.
Now a resident artist company at the University of Michigan, VIM VIGOR continues to connect international artists, students, and communities through innovative performance, education, and collaborative creation.
SHANNON GILLEN
Artistic Director and Choreographer of VIM VIGOR
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. 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.
Katherine Kiessling
Rehearsal Director, Choreographic Assistant and Company Member
Katherine Kiessling is a dancer and recent graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned dual degrees in Dance and Computer Science. She officially joined VIM VIGOR in 2025 and has since performed internationally in the company’s productions THE LONG FALL, MOTHERLOAD, DRACULA, and COUNTDOWN. She has also assisted the company throughout its physical practice and choreographic processes at the University of Michigan Department of Dance, the b12 Summer Festival, the Institute of the Arts Barcelona, Iceland University of the Arts, and Michigan Movement Performance Projects. Recently, she traveled to Croatia to serve as choreographic assistant and rehearsal director for Shannon Gillen’s new work for Zagreb Dance Company, premiering in September 2026. In May 2026, she assisted VIM VIGOR in choreographing for Michigan Movement Performance Projects and for Mavericks, b12’s new three-month contemporary dance training program in Berlin. In June 2026, Kiessling will also serve as a teacher, rehearsal director, and choreographic assistant for VIM VIGOR’s LUZ program in Sitges, Spain, an immersive international apprentice experience for rising artists, before returning to Berlin in July 2026 as an assistant for Shannon Gillen’s workshops at the annual b12 Summer Festival.
Jovick Pavajeau-Orostegui
Guest Teacher and Collaborator
Jovick Pavajeau-Orostegui was born in Miami, Florida, and began his formal dance training in Bogotá, Colombia, at the age of 15 under the direction of Jaime Otálora. Later, he attended George Mason University where he received the Kidd/Stearns Dance Talent Scholarship and graduated with a BFA in Dance in 2020. He has attended workshops with RUBBERBAND, VIM VIGOR, David Dorfman Dance and Springboard Danse Montreal under the direction of Alexandra Wells – where he performed work by Lior Lazarof and Johannes Wieland. After graduating in 2020, Jovick moved to New York City where he was an apprentice with David Dorfman Dance. In his time in NYC, he also performed with VIM VIGOR and collaborated with other New York based artists such as Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Robert Rubama, and Cameron McKinney of Kizuna Dance. Jovick relocated to Montreal in 2021 to join RUBBERBAND.