MICHIGAN MOVEMENT
PERFORMANCE PROJECT
May 4-29, 2026
4 weeks apprenticing with:
FLOCKWORKS (DE/USA)
VIM VIGOR (USA)
MARION CASTAILLET (FR)
company workshops and auditions with:
DANCE KALEIDOSCOPE
CYRIE TOPETE
EISENHOWER DANCE
FLOCKWORKS
FLOCK is a German/American touring dance company founded in 2017 by co-choreographers Florian Lochner and Alice Klock.
As FLOCK we perform internationally and are known for our non-gendered partnering and unique approach to physicality and storytelling.
We strive to bring artists and audiences together in environments that are open, dynamic, and based on joy. We offer work that communicates on many different levels, that uplifts and inspires, and that builds community and new understanding of what dance can be.
Any artist who participates in FLOCK is invited to fully express and explore their craft in a balanced setting. This leads to a feeling of care in each creation process and gives our collaborators and students a platform to explore their artistry in the most vibrant ways.
VIM VIGOR DANCE COMPANY
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 and Gillen's creative work has been commissioned across the USA, Canada, Central America, South America, Nordic countries and Europe. Projects include commissions by L.A. Dance Project, fashion label PHELAN for NY Fashion Week, DANCEworks at the Lobero Theatre, Hubbard Street 2, Gibney Dance Company, Over het lj in the Netherlands, Jacob's Pillow Festival, ICA in Boston, Ruvuelo in Chile, Boston Dance Theater, Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, Arts Umbrella in Vancouver, the International Solo-Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, the TIF theater in Kassel, de Danseurs in NL, as a THINK BIG choreographer-in-residence at Staatsoper Hannover 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. Recent tours include PUNCHLINE, which premiered at dock 11 in Berlin, before touring to the Arthur Miller Theater in Michigan, and with Gibney Presents at the Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center in NYC.
VIM was recently commissioned to create work at the IUA in Reykjavik, Iceland and for Resilience Dance Company in St. Louis. 2025 / 2026 commissions include MAVERICKS for b12 in Berlin, LUZ Sitges, IAB in Spain, The University of Limerick, Zagreb Dance Company in Croatia. Gillen is an Associate Professor of Dance at The University of Michigan alongside Cianciulli, a LEO in Dance and they are dedicated to educating and learning from the next generation of artists. VIM VIGOR offers physical dance theater training in the USA, with annual winter and summer programming.
La Boda Del Lobo
Marion conducted many dance projects as a French professional, such as Danse à L’école, and she prepared emerging young dancers to integrate at superior art schools (CNCD d’Angers / Fratellini, etc). From 2015, she started to cooperate as a performer and creator with Brotha From Anotha Motha Company (France/Tunisie), directed by Marcel Leeman and Seifeddine Manaï, and was involved with performances Nullwert and Shine My Blind Way. In 2016 she collaborated as choreographic assistant of Manaï for the parade of La Biennale De La Danse in Lyon. She found inspiration and creativity within the physical dance theatre of B.F.A.M, and created a full-bodied and highly energetic dance technique, using floorwork, called Freshmotion. She now teaches that technique in various master classes in France and abroad (Scenario Pubblico, Fre3 Bodies, Descalzinha, etc). In 2017 she created her first choreography for Brotha From Anotha Motha, called Alone With Everybody, which stages young dancers in public spaces. she then created M.I.R, a choreographic piece for the Conservatoire of Tarbes. She also created and performed her solo Happiness Does Not Wait, and joined Chatha Company for L’Amour Sorcier in 2019. In 2020-21 she joined Naïf Production for Gravitropie and created her own company, La boda del lobo. In 2022 she created À demain satané hier! in collaboration with Genaro Cibils.
MICHIGAN MOVEMENT PERFORMANCE PROJECT
Through our partnership with U-M's educational and outreach division, M2P2 manages our application and artist selection online. Due to the competitive nature of this program, and the limited number of positions for participating artists, it will take us several weeks to process your application. All interested applicants should be advised that this is an advanced performing artist platform that operates as a company, providing apprentice experiences for rising artists. While we accept and value a range of experience and expertise, please note that days will run 9:00 - 17:00/20:00, and will require some weekend availability.
Please prepare to submit: your resume/CV, your headshot, a clear 2-5 minute video demonstrating your preferred physical practice (please note that clips must be at least 15-20 seconds long if you are sharing a reel)
APPLICATION LINK: we will provide a link shortly
TUITION $1650
Once you have been accepted, U-M's will reach out directly via the same online platform to request your deposit to secure your place in the platform.
LOCATION:
The University of Michigan, Department of Dance, 1000 Baits Drive, Ann Arbor, 48104
HOUSING:
Housing is not provided, however we connect selected artists so that they can seek accommodations together. Additionally, U-M students are often looking for subletters and we do our best to connect accepted applicants with interested parties. No meals or transportation are included. Travel and meal arrangements are at the discretion of each artist.
In 2026, VIM VIGOR led by Shannon Gillen and Jason Cianciulli, an internationally renowned dance theater company and in-house dance company at U-M, will be joined by Flockworks, the artistic home for award-winning choreographers Florian Lochner and Alice Klock and French choreographer Marion Castaillet to lead, nurture and inspire a select group of exceptional dancers from May 4 -29, 2026.
Operating as a repertory company M2P2 invites gifted dancers for four weeks of rigorous physical research, creation processes, reel development, professional mentorship, interaction with hiring companies through weekend workshops and auditions, and career development sessions. 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. M2P2 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.
All original choreographic works will be performed for the public FREE of charge, uplifting the greater SouthEast Michigan cultural landscape. Performances and participant reel development materials will be professionally filmed, providing M2P2 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.
What participants can expect:
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Programming from 9am to 5pm / 6pm daily, with evening research hours and weekend workshops / auditions.
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Rigorous and diverse physical training, somatic and cross training practices.
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The creation of three original ensemble works. Participants will have the opportunity to be in two new works allowing them to be in exchange with multiple choreographers who are active in the professional world. All works are filmed.
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Reel development mentorship for participants throughout the program with final content professionally filmed.
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Additional networking with national companies and artists through showings, talk backs, workshops, auditions and professional development seminars.
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The platform culminates in an outward facing performance, free and open to the Ann Arbor community.
PHYSICAL PRACTICE AND SOMATIC TRAINING
Diverse physical practice courses drawing from the modalities of the artists’ involved including Contemporary Ballet, Contemporary Floorwork, Partnering, and Improvisation. Additional somatic courses will provide cross training and wellness practices.
REEL DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL MENTORSHIP
Dancers will receive ongoing reel development support so that participants are ready with phrasework and improvisational scores for filming. Additionally dancers receive professional mentorship helping participants map out their future plans while strategizing on both short term and long term goals.
PROFESSIONAL CREATIVE PROCESSES
AND 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.
COMPANY NETWORKING / AUDITIONS
AND 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.