Lauren Blair Smith is a professional performing artist, a choreographer, and the very proud founder of the Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company in Singapore where she mentors, assists, and, most importantly, participates in the development and joy of young aspiring artists. Lauren is a multi-Maggie Allesee Choreography Award Finalist, including selection as the 2024 Maggie Allesee Choreography Award Winner in Screendance. Lauren holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance with a minor in Arts Entrepreneurship from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) and is currently pursuing her MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan (U-M). Lauren is a William R. Kenan Fellow at Lincoln Center Education in New York City, an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher, and founder of Singapore Dance Intensive. Lauren traveled with the Broadway National Tour of Tony Award-winning Bartlett Sher’s Fiddler on the Roof; where she performed Hofesh Shechter’s brilliant choreography in over 400 performances in over 100 cities across the United States and Canada. While growing up in Singapore, Lauren attended the Singapore American School (SAS) and performed professionally at various venues, including Santa Claus the Musical at the Marina Bay Sands, The Crucible at the DBS Theatre, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Singapore, and on the reality television series competition, Dance Singapore Dance. Lauren’s choreography has been featured in the United States, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Portugal, and Australia and has received prestigious recognition from festivals including Palm Desert Choreography Festival, Detroit Dance City Festival, SHAPE Choreography Festival, Oakland Dance Festival, Carmel Dance Festival, International Online Dance Competition, Palm Springs International Dance Festival, The Artists Forum Choreography Competition NYC, Virtual DUMBO Dance Festival, Quinzena de Dança de Almada Portugal, and Lion City Dance Film Festival Singapore. Lauren has also enjoyed successful collaborations with organizations such as Panasonic, Google, Jewel Changi Airport, TEDx Procter & Gamble, Certis Group, X System International, and SAS. Beyond the stage, Lauren promoted wellness through movement (as a certified Pilates and HIIT instructor) at various venues including Marina Bay Sands, Artyzen Singapore, Parkroyal Collection Pickering, and The American Club Singapore. Lauren recently won the Gottlieb Variations Award for presenting her contemporary ballet duet at the invitation-based Collage Concert 2025. She performed Storm Stoke’s work for the Midwest RADFest 2025 in Kalamazoo and performed Tzveta Kassabova’s award-winning The Opposite of Killing at the Power Center for the University of Michigan Dance Company 2025. Lauren choreographed Interlochen Center for the Arts’ compelling production of Matilda and a new solo for musical group Bombadil’s Dancing In Color tour. She received the competitive Student Academic Multicultural Initiative Grant Award to present her work at Detroit Dance City Festival 2024. She was selected for Singapore Tap Dance Festival 2024’s (and upcoming 2025) Residency Program, where she learned different tap styles, tap history, tap improvisation, and performed Avalon Rathgeb’s choreography. Lauren’s company was selected by adjudicators to perform her choreography and teach repertory as a Professional Artist at the 2025 Wisconsin Dance Council Professional Development Conference and Mini-Dance Festival in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Her company was also invited/performed her choreography at the 2025 National Dance Education Organization’s National Conference in Detroit. Lauren’s dance film won the Dance City Festival Detroit 2025 Best Dance On Screen and was featured during the Dance and Celebration Showcase, 2025 World Film Festival in Cannes Best Dance Film Award, and 2025 RED Movie Awards Official Selection. She was also recently invited by the Austin Community College Dance Department to share “We Are” at Dance Film Night 2025 in the ACC Black Box Theater. Lauren was promoted from Sponsorship Co-Lead to Director for the U-M Center for Entrepreneurship’s (CFE) MPowered Entrepreneurship Organization to support U-M’s MTank (similarly formatted to Shark Tank). She is part of the highly selective U-M Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, which develops an entrepreneurial mindset, offers mentorship, enhances leadership skills, and includes multiple immersive US treks to gain valuable real-world experiences. Lauren was selected as a guest speaker for the Society for Women Engineers’ Women in Leadership Conference 2025. She served as a University of Michigan Representative and Recruiter at multiple large dance events. While teaching multiple classes at U-M, she is also studying Congolese dance, traditional Chinese dance, Contemporary Daoist Flow, Latin/heels, Afro-Caribbean, advanced partnering, classical modern, ballet, pedagogy, research methodology, arts fundraising, screendance, performance studies, Africanist dance traditions, and more. Lauren helped direct, choreograph, and organize the U-M First Year Dance Company 2025. Lauren is currently Rehearsal Director for Maleek Washington and Assistant Rehearsal Director for the Spain-based Marcat Dance (Mario Bermudez Gil and Catherine Coury) for their new creations for the University of Michigan Dance Company 2026’s Power Center for the Performing Arts performance. Lauren recently won the Arts Engine Art/Sci Residency’s 2025-2026 Moldwin Prize. She is spending 20 hours over 8 weeks participating with the undergraduate research team in the lab of Professor Mark Moldwin, which is currently doing work in the areas of space weather (how the Sun influences the space environment of Earth and society) and magnetic sensor development. Lauren is gaining a greater understanding of research methodologies in the space and climate fields, data visualization and communication techniques, and how the collision of disciplinary knowledge in the arts, engineering and sciences deepens the creative practice and production of each discipline. With generous awarded funding, Lauren is producing a final artistic work that reflects, builds on, explores, integrates or traces her residency experience for 2026. Lauren was selected from applicants across Michigan for the very competitive, six-month intensive program known as the Michigan Arts and Culture Council's (MACC) 2025-2026 Rising Leaders Program. The program’s focus on self-awareness and self-management, mutual influence, and gaining tools to create creative communities is specifically aimed at advancing executive leadership skills in the arts sector. Lauren was selected by Lakey Evans-Peña (The Ailey School Faculty) and Tracy Inman (The Ailey School Co-Director) of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the inaugural cohort of the highly competitive Ailey Teacher Certification Program: Ailey Horton Technique 2025-2026. This program, approved by the National Association of Schools of Dance Commission on Accreditation, means that she is receiving the highest level of authentic training in the Ailey Horton Technique; including a comprehensive understanding of its pedagogy, methodology, progressions, and instruction. Lauren, invited by Dr. Tessa from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City – International School of Business (UEH–ISB), served as a guest speaker for the Future Women Leaders Program. She led multiple workshops at Elite Arts Vietnam under the Art-Tech Feature Workshop program organized by Women in Tech Vietnam, Women Tech Entrepreneurs, and Sharework. Lauren was selected as a finalist and recently won the EXCEL Prize for the 2025 University of Michigan 10,000 Pitches competition. She was also awarded the EXCEL Enterprise Grant for her interdisciplinary, choreographic, and entrepreneurial work. Lauren trained at the b12 festival in Berlin, Countertechnique One Body One Career Intensives in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Yale Summer Conservatory for Actors, Boston Conservatory (Musical Theater), Limón Dance Company, FACT/SF, Boston Dance Theater, Atlantic Acting School’s TV/Film Master Class (Maggie Kiley), Singapore Repertory Theatre’s The Young Company, Ate9 Dance Company, and Joffrey Ballet School in Florence, Italy. She trained her voice with Jeremy Koh (musical theatre), Kristin Schwecke (classical), and Robin Christian-McNair (IPA). Lauren continues to share her passion for the arts by mentoring the next generation. Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company Lauren is the founder and Artistic Director of the Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company (the “Company”) based in Singapore and presents work internationally. Most recently, the Company presented various pieces choreographed by Lauren including: •“my moment passed” at the 2025 Threads Woven Concert in the Stamps Auditorium, “Boats Against the Current” at the 2025 Collage Concert in Hill Auditorium, “Little Symphony for Winds” at the 2025 Unscripted Concert Band Chamber Winds Concert, and “Celestial Bodies” (upcoming) at the 2025 Celestial Bodies Concert the Stamps Auditorium at the University of Michigan •“Ablaze” at the 2024 Detroit Dance City Festival Rivera Court Stage and Choreographers Showcase (performed by University of Michigan MFA/BFA dancers) at Detroit Institute of Arts and 2024 Oakland Dance Festival (Maggie Allesee Choreography Award Finalist for Live Performance & UM representative in the College Dance Showcase) •“Boats Against the Current” at the 2024 Ballare Carmel/Carmel Dance Festival Dance & Choreography Fellowship Program, Oberlin College and Conservatory Residency in Carmel, and Music in Motion at Sandbox Sand City (performed by Ballare Carmel Apprentices) •“White Lies” at the 2023 Palm Dessert Choreography Festival (performed by University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance artists) •“Intruder” at the 2023 Washington International Dance Festival & Choreography Award in Washington DC; Doug Varone & Dancers Device’s Showcase in New York City, and the Journey Dance Awards in New York City (performed by the Company’s Professional Dancers) •“Ablaze” at the 2023 Young Choreographer’s Festival @ Symphony Space in New York City (performed by the Company’s talented Pre-Professional Dancers) •“Intruder” at the 2022 Palm Desert Choreography Festival (performed by the Company’s talented Pre-Professional Dancers) •“Recollection” in Singapore (performed by the Company’s talented Professional Dancers including graduates of Juilliard, Taipei National University of the Arts, New Zealand School of Dance, and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts) More about Lauren While attending UNCSA, under the direction of Dean Susan Jaffe (current Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre), Lauren studied Countertechnique, Graham, Cunningham, Limón, release, ballet, devised theatre, acting, and arts entrepreneurship with an overarching focus in choreography. She performed in the School of Drama's productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Dir. Cameron Knight, Choreo. Krisha Marcano) and Still Life with Rocket, Mollye Maxner’s Helen Hayes Award-winning devised theatre piece. She held the lead role in Tanglefoot, a UNCSA film selected for film festivals around the world including the prestigious Austin Film Festival. Lauren was commissioned by Old Salem’s Hidden Town Initiative to create Parapo, a dance film, which was featured in their exhibit and screened at the Royal Academy of Music in London. As an ArtistCorps ArtsEngage Member, she provided arts instruction, integration, and exposure to Title I school-aged children in the Winston-Salem community. Lauren was chosen to receive the 2020 Artpreneur Grant to bring her choreography to dance festivals around the world. Lauren also received the 2019 & 2018 Career Development Grants and 2017 Semans Art Fund Grant. Lauren proudly performed with Dr. Mohamad Maliki bin Osman, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office/Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Education, in a special Singapore National Day 2023 Dinner Event tribute to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Lauren was a featured choreographer at the T2 Dance Company ChoreoFest 2023 in Boulder, Colorado. She was selected for Lillian Barbeito's 2024 Ballare Carmel/Carmel Dance Festival Fellowship Program; her duet was not only restaged/reworked on Ballare Carmel Apprentices and premiered in the Fellowship Program performance, but also presented to music performed by professors from the Oberlin College and Conservatory Residency in Carmel. Lauren was invited to create an extended 11-minute version to “Fratres" by Arvo Pärt premiered at Sandbox Sand City, California; this featured live music by Katherine Siochi, internationally recognized and principal harpist of the San Francisco Symphony, and Michelle Djokic, Grammy-nominated cellist. Lauren performed works by Hofesh Shechter, Sidra Bell, Yoshito Sakuraba, Anouk van Dijk, Larry Keigwin, Lauren Edson, Ming Lung-Yang, Grady McLeod Bowman, Tzveta Kassabova, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Martha Graham, Catherine Miller, Bill T. Jones, José Limón, Christina Chan, Michelle Chassé, Larry Sousa, Javon Ja’Moon Jones, Madison Falconer, Marion Sparber & Alan Fuentes Guerra, Storm Stokes, Gerald Arpino, Adelene Stanley, Max Chen, Maybelle Lek, Guofeng Hong, and more. She also worked with/learned from Shannon Gillen, Victor Quijada, Mari Meade, and Charlotte Griffin. Lauren acted in Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Ghostlight (Dir. Dan Jenkins) and collaborated/performed on A Virtual Tour of Singapore for the Strategy & Ops Team of Google. She choreographed/performed in Vuja De, a short film for Singapore’s Changi Airport Group. Lauren choreographed, performed, understudied, and taught at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Michigan and taught Song & Dance Lab for Interlochen Center for the Arts' Online program with students in the United States and Japan. www.laurenblairsmith.com | lauren@laurenblairsmith.com | IG: @laurenblairsmith