CHESS DILLON-REAMS

CONTEMPORARY DANCE TEACHER AND CHOREOGRAPHER

Styles
· Contemporary Dance
· Creative Dance
· Choreography

Teaches
· Adult Contemporary
· SYD:B Performance Company

Training
· Trinity Laban
· Northern School of Contemporary Dance

After graduating from Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Chess Dillon-Reams trained & toured nationally with Jasmin Vardimon's JV2. In 2014 Chess co-founded the multi-award winning, critically-acclaimed, comedic dance-theatre company, The Hiccup Project.

From 2014-2020, Chess worked as co-Artistic Director of The Hiccup Project; co-creating & performing in three full-length works, including May-We-Go Round?, which won The Pebble Trust Brighton Fringe Award, The South East Dance Award & The Fringe Review Award for Outstanding Theatre. The Hiccup Project's work was performed over 200 times, including multiple sell-out UK tours, received critical acclaim, and was consistently supported by Arts Council England. 

Now, working as an independent artist, she creates socially engaged, fiercely physical dance-theatre work that draws on real experiences. With an eye for finding the political in the personal, and space for poignancy and comedy to coexist; her storytelling is driven by a desire to move audiences, to entertain and invite deeper reflection on our own lived experiences. 

Her debut intergenerational work M-Othering, supported by Arts Council England, previewed to a sold-out audience at South East Dance in 2024, receiving glowing audience feedback and received critical acclaim for premiere performances in 2025. 

Chess values dance education and advocates for a holistic and inclusive approach within the industry. She is currently Programme Lead for Dance at Varndean College where she prepares young people for dance training at conservatoire level and produces new choreography annually. Chess has previously taught a regular adults contemporary class at Smikle Space & often works to commission for Smikle Youth Dance Company (SYD) amongst others. Chess is a Jasmin Vardimon Company associate and was recently commissioned to create a new work for JV2 2025, which toured nationally in Autumn 2025.