Founded in 1998, SHIFT>>> Physical Theater strongly believes in an ensemble practice where members share an equal involvement in developing choreography, narrative and structure for each project. The 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 modern dance to examine the relationships between people in contemporary culture. Perpetually returning to the subjects of love, vulnerability and the need to belong, SHIFT>>> Physical Theater charts an evocative landscape of intimate and half-forgotten stories. Their work is crafted from concrete, internal and human moments. Many of their themes derive from fragments of everyone's lives--a first kiss, a memory of death, a difficult goodbye. Their projects are generated out of a rigorous dialogue between the performers' own stories, the articulation of the choreographic structure, and the investigation of the human condition in modern society. As a result, SHIFT>>> Physical Theater's creative approach to dance and performance reflects universal subjects, and touches upon very real and personal levels of identity and struggle.

The company has performed to sold-out crowds in the Bay Area, as well as in various festivals and shared programs in California including San Diego (Sushi Performance Gallery), Sacramento (24th Street Theatre), Los Angeles (Cal State Los Angeles), among others. They have featured projects in Dancers' Group Local Choreographer Series (San Francisco), Other Visions (Sacramento), Danceworks (San Jose), and at the Westwave Dance Festival 2002, 2004, 2005 (San Francisco), and were presented by the 2006 SCUBA National Touring Project. In 2004, SHIFT>>> Physical Theater was nominated by the San Francisco Isadora Duncan Awards Committee for Best Ensemble Performance for the project Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue (2003). The company has been recipients of grants from the American Composers Forum (2003, 2005), Zellerbach Family Foundation (2003, 2005) and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (2005).

Currently, SHIFT>>> is engaged with Bay Area choreographer Janice Garrett in the Choreographers in Exchange Mentorship (CHIME) program of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. CHIME receives support from The James Irvine Foundation and The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, with additional from The Fleishhacker Foundation, The Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation, The LEF Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation and generous individuals.