Shea Sullivan is a California born, London based choreographer and artist. Shea’s first love was experimental / noise music, and began her dance training with improvisation at age 20 in the greater Los Angeles area. She holds a BA from London Contemporary Dance School, MA from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Collaborative Theatre Production and Design. Her work has been featured in the UK, France, and United States, with choreographic experience expanding into contemporary circus, opera, and dance. As a performer, her experience ranges from gogo, improvisation, and concert dance to puppetry. Born with a visible facial difference, she creates from ‘the clefted perspective’ - working with polar opposites, contradiction, mystery, and bridging gaps in unlikely places.

Recently, her work Emanations of Disfigurement (2022) (2026) was featured as part of Resolutions Festival. Premiering throughout 2026 are a series of solos works. In Collaboration with Pascal Theatre Company, an evening length dance theatre piece will explore Shea’s family lineage of Vaudville and burlesque in 1930s New York City. As a company member for Grippd Arts Co, a Scottish contemporary dance company directed by Farrah Fawcett, she looks forward to a year of touring and live performance.

Shea’s greatest joy is collaboration - providing additional support to creative processes as dramaturgy, stage management, and technical assisting.

Image by Ty Burrows, Zari Gallery 2025

CV

  • Hope and Desperation Gallery

    Artist: Sam Smith

    Role: Studio Assistant

    Workhorse - May 30, 2026

    Role: Choreographer / Performer

    Type: Contemporary Dance, Endurance Art

    Kiwi Portal [Live]- Premieres 20 May 2026

    Role: Creator / Performer

    Type: Burlesque, Physical Theatre

    Hug Piece [Live] 2026 Camden People’s Theatre

    Director: Carla Ng

    Role: Devising Performer

    Type: Performance Art

    Is this a Club? [Live] Vespers Club

    Director: Jessica Panchi-Pacheco

    Role: Dramaturg / Performer

    Type: Performance Art

    Untitled [Digital content]

    Director / Photographer: Lauren Cremer

    Role: Lighting Assistant

    Error 404 [Live] 2026 - The Place Theatre

    Choreographer: Cailin Manning

    Role: Deputy Stage Manager / Props Master

    Type: Contemporary Dance

    Resolutions Festival - Emanations of Disfigurement [Live]

    Role: Choreographer / Producer

    Type: Contemporary Dance / Collaboration

    To Be Kept by the Earth [Live] - UK Premiere, The Space Clarence Mews

    Grippe Arts Co

    Role: Company Dancer

    Type: Contemporary Dance, Scottish Traditional

    Untitled [Digital]

    Photographer: Lauren Cremer

    Role: Model

    Type: Concept, Fashion

  • Norma Nite Album Release, Coven, London

    Artist: Norma Nite

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Backup / go-go

    ENGINES [Film], London

    Director: Charlie Jimenez

    Sponsored by Rick Owens and Dr Martins

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Experimental / Ensemble

    Arches [Print / Book], Berlin

    Photographer: Lilly Schlinkler

    Role: Model

    The Silk Stitch, London Archives

    Director: Julia Pascel

    Role: Actor

    Taut [print], Zari Gallery, London

    Photographer: Ty Burrows

    Role: Model

    Zari Photo Prize Winnter - Black and White Category

    To be Kept by the Earth [live], Dundee Rep Theatre, Scotland

    Grippd Art Co

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Contemporary Dance, Scottish Traditional Dance

    To Be Kept by the Earth [RnD], The Space Clarence Mews, London

    Grippd Art Co

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Contemporary Dance, Scottish Traditional Dance

    Monster I [Film, RnD], London

    Director: Cailin Manning

    Type: Contemporary Dance

    Error 404 (RnD), Siobhan Davies Studios

    Choreographed by Cailin Manning

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Contemporary Dance

    Bauhaus [Film], Barbican

    Director: Oliva Underwood

    Role: Performer

    Type: Acting / Modern Dance

    Coyote Ugly Camden (2024 - 2025) [Live]

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Go-go, Emcee, Improvisation, Stand Up

  • Horse Person Opera [Live], Cockpitt Theatre

    Double A Theatre

    Role: Choreographer, Movement Director

    Exponential Irrelevance [Live] Milton Court Theatre

     Various Directors

    Type: Dance / Physical Theatre

    Untitled Monster [Live]- Milton Court Theatre

    Role: Director, Prop Maker, Performer

    Type: Physical Theatre

    Letters from London [Live] Milton Court

    Project Lead: Lian Dyogi (composer)

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Improvisation

    De- Scent [Live / Residency] Centre De Creation, France

    Role: Director

    Type: Contemporary Circus

    Rooftop Tales [Live, tour] Little Angel Theatre, Devised

    Type: Puppeteer

  • Fragments from the Pit, Milton Court Studio Theatre

    Role: Choreographer

    Type: Contemporary Dance / Physical Theatre

    A Death has Occurred [Live] The Place Theatre

    Choreographer: Kennedy Muntanga

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Contemporary Dance

    Outpour [Live, Installation], The Place

    Choreographer: Farrah Fawcett

    Role: Dancer

    Type: Contemporary Dance, Performance Art

    Sometimes Even Now [Live, Restaged] National Theatre, The Place

    James Cousins Co

    Type: Contemporary Dance

  • Emanations of Disfigurement [Live], The Place

    Choreographer: Shea Sullivan

    Composer: Efe Yuksel

    Type: Contemporary Dance

  • coming soon

Press

'Every thought she shares is integrated with lineage; she names all the artists and authors and composers and dancers she owes inspiration to: Anna Pavlova, Meredith Monk, John Cage, even Marilyn Manson, whose autobiography was formative to her as a teen, “I was reading John Cage and Marilyn Manson’s autobiographies at the same time. When Manson describes some of his early acts, he had a girl on a leash, that was sort of my… both those books were my first introduction to composition and performance art.”
“Do you think your performances are channeling spirits? (Khan)
“I think… Well, when I was talking about reading books from those artists… there was no one for me to ask about anything. All I had was books. I think I was going to the source of knowledge and asking for help. And if you’re an artist, communicating with another artist, even through text, that’s you channeling. And paying homage to, like, lineage. Lineage is so important to me.” (Sullivan)'
‘She Sees Ghosts in Burlesque’ by Kit Khan : https://thecabaretdispatch.substack.com/p/2-she-sees-ghosts-in-burlesque

‘ the choreography carries both narrative weight and emotional force, moving through trauma, anger and resilience. The movement is intense and direct, carried by performers who commit fully to its demands. Bodily memory comes through in the physical experience of the work, inviting the audience into a close, shared sense of feeling. The work allows moments of discomfort to sit with the audience.’ - Tianyi Li

Seeing Dance : https://www.seeingdance.com/resolution-26-manacan-shea-sullivan-jie-gao-wally-groves-260210/


‘The movement was powerful and spatially ambitious’ - Namoo Chae Lee

London Pub Theatres Magazine: https://www.londonpubtheatres.com/review-choreodrome-triple-bill-at-the-place-5-feb-2026


' there is a genuine friction in the movement. The piece creates a strong mood and aesthetic, and as it develops, the themes become more visceral.” - Alma Kremnitzer

The Place: Blogs and Stories: https://theplace.org.uk/blogs-stories/thu-5-feb/