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 pursuing her MFA from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance with a minor in Arts Entrepreneurship from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). Lauren is a William R. Kenan Fellow at Lincoln Center Education in New York City, and an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher. 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 various festivals including SHAPE Choreography 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, Lion City Dance Festival Singapore, and Palm Desert Choreography Festival. Lauren has also enjoyed successful performance collaborations with organizations such as Panasonic, Google, Jewel Changi Airport, TEDx Procter & Gamble, X System International, and SAS. Lauren trained at the 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, Kristin Schwecke (classical), and Robin Christian-McNair (IPA). Lauren recently wrapped filming an upcoming Panasonic commercial video in a featured part and enjoys sharing her passion for the arts and mentoring the next generation. Beyond the stage, Lauren promotes 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 BLAIR 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: > “White Lies” at the 2023 Palm Dessert Choreography Festival (performed by University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance artists) > “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) > “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) > “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) The Company’s Dance Pedagogy Program was designed by Lauren for the Company’s young educators program. MORE ABOUT LAUREN While attending UNCSA, under the direction of Dean Susan Jaffe (current Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre in New York City), Lauren 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 various 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 later 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 various dance festivals around the world. 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 Yoshito Sakuraba, Anouk van Dijk, Larry Keigwin, Lauren Edson, Ming Lung-Yang, Grady McLeod Bowman, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Martha Graham, Catherine Miller, Bill T. Jones, José Limón, Christina Chan, Michelle Chassé, Larry Sousa, Javon Ja’Moon Jones, Madison Falconer, Gerald Arpino, Adelene Stanley, Max Chen, Maybelle Lek, Xenres Kirishima, 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 laurenblairsmith@gmail.com Instagram: @laurenblairsmith @laurenblairsmithdancecompany