Spiral Body Techniques®
The easiest, most challenging movement class you’ll ever take.
What is Spiral Body Techniques?
Spiral Body Techniques was developed by choreographer and movement educator Molly Shanahan, PhD to contribute her decades of research in a fluid yet organized framework.
Dancers are trained to “hold their center,” pull “in and up,” and to mimic forms in order to “do it right.” Physical limitations, idiosyncrasies, or uniqueness of our bodies are to be ignored, or worked through in physical therapy. Success in Western concert dance is often measured by the ability to manipulate the body in the attempt to replicate the perfect form. Pain is the norm. A lifetime of forcing a body to fit the exterior ideal form has great potential for abuse. It can also lead trained dancers to believe that if they are not being punished, they are not truly dancing.
Even Western dance forms that move beyond the “in-and-up” aesthetic often still recapitulate the ideal body in subtler ways, especially in their continued centering of slenderness as a marker of value or potential.
Dance can be a site of exploring and negotiating one’s liberation from limiting beliefs, systems, and practices, but it is often a site of distortion and gaslighting. Spiral Body Techniques champions the reality that outstanding dancing should not hurt, be abusive, or contribute the violence of body shame. SBT accepts as a given that all bodies are dynamic, living systems that thrive on complexity and adaptive, imagistic movement exploration. SBT is virtuosic, but at first you might not recognize the form of virtuosity: it is akin to octopi or jellyfish, not human machines.
The next SBT teacher training dates: July 7-18, 2025. Chicago IL. More information can be found under classes and workshops or by reaching out to Molly Shanahan. We are now forming the 2026 cohort.
Spiral Body Techniques is a registered trademark, and can only be taught by certified teachers.
Spiral Body Techniques:
uses complex phrases that emphasize clarity of spatial connection to foster availability in, and relationship among, through, and from the ball-and-socket joints integrated with a fluid spine
prioritizes releasing and reeducating habitual muscular gripping, particularly in the abdominals, “core,” and trunk
emphasizes the body’s innate intelligence, rather than focusing on adherence to form or the association of “technique” with the aesthetic ideals of ballet and other hierarchical movement and fitness systems
employs movement that draws on the body’s intrinsic systems of fluidity, spirals, undulation, and curve, allowing dancers and movers multiple ways to navigate complex movement patterns and relationships to space, whether learned, rehearsed, or improvised, with ease, safety, and, hopefully, joy
uses spiraling motion that nurtures expressive complexity grounded in flow and differentiated effort, while developing skill with micro- and macro-falling, spatial support, gestural precision, self-referential constraints, and trust in gravity
welcomes individuals from diverse movement backgrounds and experience levels, and fosters an environment where students have agency to take class at their own pace
integrates somatic awareness and encourages, gently and tenaciously, the release of cultural, postural, and habitual holding and the tension it generates, especially in relation to postural habits perpetuated by Western culture.
Practicing Spiral Body Techniques:
Opens the body to greater fluidity and freedom in movement
Cultivates expert ease, often the most challenging skill a mover can practice
Transcends traditional Western concert dance constraints and validates that vigorous, detailed, spacious dancing need not come at the expense of sustainability or a long-term relationship with the dancing body, including in performance
Invites individuals to experience a broader framework for movement, beauty, and virtuosity
Reveals an individual’s existing and potential movement patterns, guiding them toward greater self-awareness and body literacy
Acknowledges that everyone possesses the capacity for deeper expression and ease through movement
Radically challenges the self-limiting effects of fat phobia, ageism, and the fetishization of idealized form
Runs counter to hustle culture
Encourages a compassionate lens for engaging with the world through embodied expertise and pleasure
Fosters a deeper connection to oneself for a more integrated and mindful approach to movement and life
Spiral Body Techniques currently offers three avenues of experience for dancers/movers.
One—the SBT studio class—is geared to advanced and intermediate/advanced dancers interested in cultivating a deeper capacity to spontaneously access the multiplicity of options available at any given dancing movement, and to navigate rapidly changing relationships to space formed through image, clarity of intent, and adaptability.
Two—the Alone-Together practice—is a movement practice guided by Shanahan, often done virtually without visual references, and is open to anyone, of any skill level (dancers and “non-dancers” alike) wanting to forge a deeper relationship with body in motion, image, and connection to self.
Three—Private sessions with Molly Shanahan of 46-60 minutes in length. Virtual. These can be helpful in getting clarity on SBT movement values and details that thread together vocabulary and can enhance one’s movement in any context, exploring a deeper, more intrinsic, connection to that movement outside of a studio environment.
Founder
Molly Shanahan, Ph.D.
Molly Shanahan, PhD
Founder of Spiral Body Techniques® | Artistic Director of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak
Molly Shanahan, PhD, is a choreographer, performer, educator, and somatic researcher whose work delves into and sometimes transcends movement to explore how bodies express, perceive, and are perceived. A luminary in Chicago’s independent dance scene since 1994, Shanahan has built a decades-spanning career at the intersection of improvisation, choreography, and embodied inquiry, challenging limiting assumptions around aesthetics, technique, and value in dance.
Shanahan developed Spiral Body Techniques® (SBT®) through nearly four decades of rigorous dancemaking, advanced study of the Feldenkrais Method and Continuum, and the teaching of several hundred students across professional and university settings, from tiny classes to studios of 40 and 50 dancers, from R1 institutions to small liberal arts environments. Formalized in 2023, SBT is both a pedagogical method and a movement philosophy that cultivates specificity without rigidity, integrating spirals, fluidity, and the release of habitual muscular holding and gripping, especially in the abdominals and trunk. Through SBT, dancers and movers access layered, adaptive, imagistic strategies for navigating space, time, and creative impulse.
At its core, SBT reflects Shanahan’s recognition that vigorous, detailed, and spacious dancing need not come at the expense of a long-term relationship with one’s body, dancing, and performance. Her approach gently and tenaciously challenges cultural patterns of control, including fat phobia, ageism, the fetishization of form, and the overvaluation of a controlling and surveilling center or “core.” It invites participants into a broader, more humane framework for movement, beauty, and virtuosity; one that embraces differentiated effort, non-linear expressivity, and trust in both gravity and the material body.
Shanahan’s own journey, including recovery from an eating disorder, living and moving as a survivor of sexual trauma, and navigating the late diagnosis of lipedema, a common but underdiagnosed connective tissue disorder that affects women almost exclusively, has deeply informed her approach. Her work recognizes the role of movement and the lymphatic system in managing pain, and draws on embodied research into somatics, trauma, and nonlinear systems of knowledge. Through both her choreography and the development of Spiral Body Techniques®, Shanahan integrates philosophical inquiry, including her engagement with rhizome theory stemming from a creative reading of Deleuze and Guattari, to support frameworks for dancing, learning, and expression that already live in the body and its profound wisdom. These are proliferative, expansive, non-hierarchical ways of knowing that dancers and all humans practice daily, even when unnamed or undervalued.
As founder and artistic director of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak (MS/MS), Shanahan has created groundbreaking evening-length works that blur the lines between dance, ritual-for-observation, performance art, and contemplative experience. Her choreography, spiralic, delicately continuous, and driven by a pursuit of “virtuosity of compassion,” has left an indelible mark on Chicago’s cultural landscape and beyond.
Whether in the studio, on stage, or in collaboration with ensemble dancers and students, Shanahan’s legacy is one of innovation, quiet courage, and an unwavering belief in the body’s capacity to know, to heal, and to speak.
Spiral Body Techniques®
Essential Level Certified Teachers
Kristina Fluty
Kristina Fluty has been dancing with Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak since 2003, and is also honored to serve on the board of directors and provide administrative support to the company.
She is an Associate Professor of Movement for Actors at The Theatre School at DePaul University, and holds an MA in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Columbia College Chicago, where she also received her certification in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis and Movement Pattern Analysis. Her early influential training came from her BA in Dance from Point Park University, time spent on scholarship at Trisha Brown Dance Company, and the early 'aughts "downtown NYC dance scene" with Miguel Gutierrez, David Dorfman, KJ Holmes, and others. Continued personal study of Contact Improvisation and Feldenkrais also deeply inform her work.
Kristina is thrilled to be part of the inaugural cohort of Spiral Body Techniques instructors, assists Shanahan in teaching the now-annual SBT teacher training and in the development of and communication about the method.
both images ©Lady Red Photos
Maria DiMarzio
Maria DiMarzio is an artist who creates art and movement with child like wonder and play. Maria strives to never lose the side of her that is still just a kid and she works to bring this out in her work. She is mainly a movement artist and dancer, however she also works in other mediums such as crochet and paints on canvas.
She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance performance at Wayne State University. This is where she trained under artists such as Meg Paul and Biba Bell and performed in works by Faye Driscoll, Ronald K. Brown, and others. Most importantly, this is where she started her journey with Molly Shanahan. She has been working with Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak as an member of the ensemble since late 2018 and hopes and plans to be a part of the ensemble for years to come.
Maria finds so much fulfillment in Shanahan’s company and Spiral Body Techniques. The research and movement quality (she likes to say) fits her like a glove. She feels at home in this work, like she can truly be herself.
both images ©Lady Red Photos
Sarah Gottlieb
Sarah Gottlieb (they/she) is dance artist from Chicago living and working internationally. They are currently a visiting lecturer of dance at Roehampton University in London,UK (since 2023) and a doctoral research candidate with Coventry University (UK) and Deakin University (Aus) (until 2027). Sarah is also a freelance dance and movement teacher, dramaturg, performer, choreographer and contact improvisor.
A lifelong researcher of somatic practices, Sarah collects ‘illegible credentials’: a Certified Laban Movement Analyst (IMs), Level 2 Franklin Method Educator and pelvic floor specialist, a sex educator with EDSE, birth doula, Gyrotonic Instructor and Ismeta Certified RSMT/E/DE; certifying in SBT is an exciting step toward applying critical somatic research to the particular intelligence of contemporary dance praxis, ie. sweat, flow and moving momentum together.
Sarah’s approach to choreographic work is duly research-based, layering ‘deep nerd’ experiential anatomy with contextual community magic. Through multiple modes of choreographic experimentation, a throughline tracing the dimensional genius of queer strategies of embodiment can be faintly followed.
both images Erika Ruch/Lady Red Photos
Kathleen (Kat) Hickey
Kathleen (Kat) Hickey, a native to the Chicago area, is a choreographer, filmmaker, dancer, and teacher. Currently based in West Lafayette, Indiana, her work has been seen throughout Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Minneapolis, New Jersey, Detroit, San Francisco, Berkely, Santa Cruz, the Indianapolis region, as well as Shanghai, and Hangzhou, China and Istanbul, Turkey. She has performed in works by director Rebecca Holderness and Joel Ebarb, and choreographers Brandi Coleman, Molly Shanahan, and Renee Murray.
Kat holds a B.A. in Political Science from Purdue University and an M.F.A. in Dance and Performing Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and is faculty in the Division of Dance at Purdue University's Rueff School of Design, Art, & Performance. She is among the first cohort of teachers certified as an Essential Level Spiral Body Techniques teacher in 2023.
©Mark Simons
Helen Lee
Helen Lee (they/she) is a Queer Asian Chicago-born interdisciplinary artist raised by immigrant parents from South Korea. They received an MFA with a focus in Performance and Film from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Dance with a minor in Theatre from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. They have been teaching yoga, meditation and mindfulness since 2007. That same year, they formed Momentum Sensorium, a project-based company that has created and choreographed in unconventional locations such as lighthouses, train stations, and inside homes. Much of their work focuses on the senses, death, and the entanglement of light/shadow, summer/winter, joy/grief. They have presented works in the US, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Iceland, Finland and Canada. Helen was selected as a Newcity Breakout Artist in 2022 and was a 2024 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist. They have been an Artist in Residence at Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago Cultural Center, Links Hall and High Concept Labs at Mana Contemporary.
Helen currently dances for Khecari in Tend and has been a company member for The Humans, Tangentz Butoh Performance Group (Lori Othani), Aloha Dancers and Friends of Polynesia understudied with Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre. They are a frequent performer and improviser for Cristal Sabbagh’s Freedom From Freedom To series at Elastic Arts. Helen has been studying with Molly Shanahan on and off since 2005 and is honored to among the first cohorts of teachers certified as an Essential Level SBT® teacher in 2024.
both images William Frederking Photography
Emily Loar
Emily Loar is a dance artist and improviser living in Chicago, IL. A BFA graduate from Columbia College Chicago, Loar has presented original and commissioned dance work across the midwest, and has performed with dancemakers and choreographers including Peter Carpenter, Lydia Feuerhelm, Kasey Foster, Erin Kilmurray, Jonathan Meyer and Julia Rae Antonick of the dance company Khecari, and Kinnari Vora (Ishti Collective).
Loar is a founding member of Project Bound Dance and and is current Co-Artistic Director alongside collaborator Ashley Deran.
both images ©Ashley Deran
Lauren Reed
Lauren Reed (Chicago) graduated from Butler University with a BFA in Dance Performance. Upon moving to Chicago, Lauren joined the Lou Conte’s scholarship program and further trained in programs including Springboard Danse Montréal and Luna Negra Dance Theater. Lauren has danced professionally with Project606 Dance, Aerial Dance Chicago, Ensemble180, and is currently dancing with Still Inspired and Ishti Collective. Lauren has taught various styles in dance studios, schools, and after school programs for over 10 years. In 2020, Lauren completed the teacher certification for IMAGE TECH for Dancers™ (101 level), a weightbearing somatic practice created by Alexandra Wells. In 2023 she completed the inaugural Spiral Body Techniques™ teacher certification with Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak. She is an enthusiastic educator who values imagination, presence, and play; she believes that dance is a thrilling way for children and adults alike to become more fully human. Lauren has a passion for social dance and is an avid Lindy Hopper, traveling to expand her knowledge of swing-era dances and compete with the Windy City Lindy Hoppers. Lauren is a professional grant writer and arts administrator, and has been running a youth development program called Teen Leaders Club since 2013.
both images ©William Frederking
Dani Oblitas
Dani Oblitas (she/they) is a dance artist, improviser, and educator currently based in Chicago, IL. They graduated from St. Olaf College with a BA in Dance and Environmental Studies. Dani has performed with Liz Sexe Dance, KLJ Movement, We Are Collective, and Helen Lee. Currently, they are a collaborator and performer with 773 Dance Project, Sildance/Acrodanza, and Albany Park Theater Project's Port of Entry. Dani was a choreographer for the One Hour Project and is a Links Hall CO-MISSION Resident for 2024/2025. In 2024, she completed the Essential Level Spiral Body Techniques® teacher certification with Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak.
both images William Frederking Photography
Jaicee Partridge
Jaicee Partridge, based in Detroit/Ann Arbor, has trained in various forms of dance, acting, and music, and has performed in theater, film, and dance productions. While studying psychology at Wayne State University, they continued to learn dance in both studio and lecture settings. Since 2016, they have been teaching dance classes across the country in the Metro-Detroit area. During the pandemic, Jaicee's interest in movement, the body, and creative processes grew deeper. They focused on finding a balance between exertion and effortless expression and movement. This led them to explore the relationships between educators and students, as well as between audiences and performers. They conducted virtual interviews with artists, academics, and movers to discuss how the pandemic was impacting them and their artistic processes. Jaicee currently teaches at Illuminate Dance and Arts Center and creates choreography for the IlluminaTe 43 Company, which is owned and directed by Deena Bryan. They constantly strive to learn; and their goal is to genuinely connect with others through movement, conversation, and collaboration. In 2021, Jaicee became an ensemble member and collaborator of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, and they among the first cohort of teachers certified as an Essential Level Spiral Body Techniques teacher in 2023.
both images ©Lady Red Photos
Kalila Kingsford Smith
Based in Philadelphia, Kalila Kingsford Smith is a dance educator, choreographer, performer, writer, and Pilates instructor. She has been an adjunct faculty member in the Dance Departments at Drexel University and Temple University. She has a MA in Dance from Temple University, and a BFA in Dance and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Michigan. She is currently serving as the Director of thINKingDANCE.net, an online dance publication based in Philadelphia, where she has been writing and editing since 2012. She teaches pilates at Drexel Pilates and Everybody Movement and Wellness. Kalila is among the second cohort of teachers certified as an Essential Level Spiral Body Techniques® teacher in 2025.
Kalila’s approach to dance is fundamentally healing and transformational. Her goals as a teacher are to honor each individual’s unique life experience while providing avenues towards growth and play within any movement practice. Her primary teaching practices include Spiral Body Techniques®, somatic improvisation, modern and contemporary dance techniques, jazz and musicality, dance theory, historical and cultural dance analysis, choreography and creative process, and Pilates and mindfulness practices. In any dance class, these modes can cross-pollinate to generate an informed and rigorous practice that moves the dancers through various relationships to gravity, to musicality, to tension and to release.
both images Erika Ruch/Lady Red Photos
Harlee Trautman
Harlee Trautman is a Philadelphia-based interdisciplinary artist: dancer, choreographer, sculptor, puppeteer. Harlee's performance-making honors embodied knowledge, deep research, and collaborative possibility. Harlee sees art making as a means to remain infinitely curious about the natural world, the vessels of our bodies, the universes that we hold, and in turn hold us.
Harlee is an artistic collaborator for White Box Theatre and dances with The Naked Stark dance company and Archedream for Humankind. Notable work has been presented at the American Dance Festival (Durham, NC), Manship Theatre (Baton Rouge), the Republic (New Orleans), Mandell Theater (Philadelphia), Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton, NJ), as well as on display at Philadelphia International Airport's D terminal. Harlee earned a BFA from Louisiana State University and has been a guest instructor/artist at Temple University, Drexel University, Bryn Mawr College, Louisiana State, and Tulane.
both images ©Lady Red Photos
Christie Willis
Christie Willis (Chicago) graduated from Illinois State University in 2011 with a BA in Dance Performance. She moved to Chicago in the fall of 2011 and began working as an independent dancer and choreographer, starting as a founding member of Salty Lark Dance. Since then she has performed with Innervation Dance Cooperative, Christine Hands Choreography, Tiffany Lawson Dance and Dropshift Dance. She works as a PAI certified Pilates instructor at Harmony Mind-Body Fitness.
Christie was introduced to Spiral Body Techniques through Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak’s Process to Performance workshop in 2019, and is among the first cohort of teachers certified as an Essential Level Spiral Body Techniques teacher in 2023.
both images ©William Frederking
Amanda Timm
Amanda Timm (Minneapolis, MN) is a dance/movement therapist and educator with an MFA in Counseling and a certificate in Dance/Movement Therapy from Antioch University Seattle. She works at a Minneapolis-based nonprofit providing wrap-around care for families in the child protection system.
A 2009 BFA graduate in Dancemaking from Columbia College Chicago, Amanda performed with Striding Lion Performance Group, The Moving Architects, Synapse Arts, Khecari, Kelly Anderson Dance, and The Fly Honeys, among others. She also directed her own project-based company, We Stand Sideways, and taught across diverse settings.
After five years of international travel exploring yoga, 5Rhythms, Body-Mind Centering®, and Authentic Movement, Amanda pursued dance/movement therapy as a profession. She has studied with Molly Shanahan since 2006 and is honored to be part of the inaugural Spiral Body Techniques teacher training cohort, integrating her movement and therapeutic backgrounds into her teaching.
above image Matthew Gregory Hollis; background image Lady Red Photos.