Visceral Dance Youth Program

Visceral Dance Youth Program includes dance, performances, and educational programming. The youth program provides professional training in a positive environment. Visceral offers classes for every dancer as part of its broader programming.

• Ages: 18 months–17 years old

Visceral Dance is founded and led by Artistic Director Nick Pupillo. Visceral Dance Chicago has been engaging and connecting artists with audiences since 2013 and is celebrating twelve seasons. Visceral Dance performs over 25 times a year in Chicago and provides educational programming, expanding its reach while making dance and art accessible to all communities. Visceral Dance is a national and internationally recognized driving force in contemporary dance and is recognized for its exceptional technicality, diversity, versatility, and daring athleticism. It has been praised for its accessibility in programming by presenting dynamic performances that appeal to a wide range of audiences.

The mission of Visceral Dance is to create work that is meaningful and powerful, that confronts and connects people in a transformative way, with a focus on both tremendous technique and the genuine quality of the human being through the dancer. Visceral Dance is committed to inclusion and equity, with values that include being representative and respectful of all communities, hearing and valuing all voices, and using dance as a reflective, interactive tool for promoting healing, compassion, and collaboration without regard to identity, age, gender, race, physicality, or ethnicity.

The facility includes six large studio spaces and a convertible performance theater. All studios are equipped with a sound system, mirrors, professional flooring, and individual temperature controls, with dressing rooms, a lobby, kitchen, and lounge areas available for all.

Reviews describe Visceral as “a studio, a company, and a feeling; a combination of art, family, and a community that continues to grow” (Chicago Reader). Chicago Stage Standard states that “Visceral Dance Chicago breathes life into the Chicago arts community” and highlights its ability “to intertwine complex human emotions with the raw beauty of dance and physical movement.” Splash Magazine notes the company’s “astounding ability to communicate the inner-workings of the human soul” and its capacity “to speak to and command an entire room without physically saying a word.”

Last updated July 30, 2026.