Founded in 1998, SHIFT>>> Physical Theater believes in an ensemble practice where members share an equal involvement in developing choreography, narrative, and structure for each project. Their work aims to reach and develop a diverse audience excited by the possibilities of dance as an unlimited vehicle for creative expression.

Under the direction of Manuelito Biag, company members draw upon personal narratives and use dance to examine the relationships between people in contemporary culture. Many of their themes derive from fragments of everyone's lives such as a first kiss, a memory of death, or a difficult goodbye. Their dances are generated out of a rigorous dialogue between the performers' stories, a choreographic structure, and a shared investigation of the human condition. SHIFT>>> Physical Theater's creative approach to movement and performance reflects universal subjects and aims to reveal different facets of the human experience.

The company has performed to sold-out crowds in the Bay Area, as well as in various festivals and shared programs throughout California including San Diego, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. They have featured projects in Dancers' Group Local Choreographer Series, Other Visions, Danceworks, Westwave Dance Festival, and were presented in Philadelphia and Minneapolis by the SCUBA National Touring Project. In 2004, SHIFT>>> was nominated by the San Francisco Isadora Duncan Awards Committee for Best Ensemble Performance for the project Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue. Their evening length production The Shape of Poison was hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the top ten Bay Area dance events of 2007. The company has been recipients of grants from the American Composers Forum, Theatre Bay Area CA$H, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. They have also received a three year artist residency at ODC Theater and a Choreographers in Exchange Mentorship (CHIME) fellowship from the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. Most recently, artistic director Manuelito Biag was recognized by Dance Magazine as one of the “Top 25 to Watch” in 2009.