Nick Pupillo
Founder, Artistic Director

After an extensive career as a dancer, teacher and choreographer, Nick Pupillo decided that his main priority would be to nurture young talent by establishing Visceral Studio Company. In 2007, Nick founded Visceral Dance Center to provide the Chicago community with a new venue for artistic and technical growth. This fall, Visceral Dance Chicago will begin, in its infancy stages, as a new professional company here in Chicago. Nick has devoted himself wholeheartedly to each of these projects, because he has the determination to make his vision a reality.

Nick attended Indiana University on full scholarship, where he studied with Jacques and Virginia Cesbron, as well as Leslie Peck and Violette Verdy. He graduated with a B.S. in ballet, concentrating in teaching and choreography. A former member of Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Nick toured with the company throughout the United States and internationally for three years. He has worked with many esteemed choreographers, including Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Ron DeJesus, Randy Duncan, Mark Godden, Jon Lehrer, Eddy Ocampo, Tony Powell, and Davis Robertson. Additional performance credits include various roles with the Ruth Page Foundation Nutcracker, Brass Theater featuring the Star of Indiana, Dance Chicago, Schaumburg Dance Ensemble, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Stars of Dance Chicago, and Dance for Life.

Nick has worked with the Pride of Cincinnati, a world class winter guard, and The Cavaliers, an award-winning DCI champion drum corps, as a choreographer and instructor. He has set pieces for Inaside Chicago Dance, Terpsichore Dance Company, Webster University, University of North Carolina, Greenville, The Chicago Academy of the Arts, and numerous Chicago area high schools. He has received various awards for his choreography, including a Dance Chicago Outstanding Choreography Award in 2005. Nick teaches across the country, providing master classes for companies, institutions, and universities. He has also taught for the Chicago Dance Connection and the Jazz Dance World Congress. In the summer of 2007, Nick co-founded INTENSITY dance workshop with Lizzie Mackenzie and Eddy Ocampo. He is currently a continuing artist in residence at Culver Military Academy.

Nick has a strong connection with his students and dancers who, in turn, are dedicated to him and to the discipline of dance. This dynamic, along with Nick's drive and innovative vision for the future of Visceral creates an exciting atmosphere of growth and artistic excellence.

Lauren Garner
Rehearsal Director

Lauren Garner is originally from Louisiana, where she pursued her dance education at Louisiana State University.  While attending LSU she was a member of the national award winning LSU Tiger Girls and Jean Leigh Dance Company, where she studied under Diana Jones and Paula Morgan. She has worked and studied under some of the most well know choreographers; including  Mia Michaels. Ray Leeper, Nick Pupillo, Jason Parsons, Jen Ballard, and J.T. Hornstein. Lauren attended classes on scholarship at the  Broadway Dance Center in New York, and the Edge Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles she was a guest performer in the Edge PAC Show. She has also toured Europe with the Tanzommer Dance Festival opening for Alvin Ailey. She now resides in Chicago where she has performed in Dance Chicago for Visceral Dance Chicago and Art for Heart’s Sake, a benefit for the Make A Wish foundation. Lauren also taught at numerous studios throughout the state of Louisiana and Illinois where she has won numerous choreography awards. Lauren has recently taken her love of dance to another level by co-founding the company The Exposure Movement with her colleague Evelyn Rice.  The Exposure Movement is about taking aspiring young dancers through customized educational programs that give hands on experience through a performer’s way of life. Lauren loves sharing her knowledge of dance with students and is excited to be working with The Visceral Studio Company.

Sarah Robinson
Studio Manager

Sarah Robinson began her training in Baltimore, Maryland at the Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland. She received her BA in dance and a minor in performing arts management from Columbia College Chicago. While in Chicago, she has studied on scholarship with Deeply Rooted Productions and Thodos Dance Chicago. Sarah has performed in works by Twyla Tharp, Kevin Iega Jeff, Garry Abbott, Paige Cunningham, Kirby Reed, Against the Grain Dance Project and is also a member of Winifred Haun & Dancers and NoMi LaMad Dance Inc.. She is currently studio manager at Visceral Dance Center under the direction of Nick Pupillo, fulfilling her dual love for arts administration.