Lauren Blair Smith is a performer, choreographer, educator, and the very proud founder of the Lauren Blair Dance Company in Singapore where she mentors, assists, and, most importantly, participates in the development and joy of young aspiring artists. After receiving a BFA in Contemporary Dance and a minor in Entrepreneurship from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), she earned the William R. Kenan Fellowship at Lincoln Center Education in New York City. Lauren went on to perform in 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 100 cities across the United States and Canada. While growing up in Singapore, Lauren attended the Singapore American School (SAS) where she participated and performed in as many school productions as possible. This encouraged her to pursue the arts outside of school 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” where she placed top female and third overall. While attending UNCSA, Lauren performed in the School of Drama's productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” 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 also 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 choreographed creation to various dance festivals around the world. "Intruder" and "Bite-Sized", two pieces she created while at UNCSA, later received prestigious recognition from various festivals including SHAPE Choreography Festival, International Online Dance Competition, Palm Springs International Dance Festival, The Artists Forum Choreography Competition in NYC, Virtual DUMBO Dance Festival, and Palm Desert Choreography Festival. Upon graduation, she established the Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company with aspirations to expand internationally. Lauren choreographed/presented “Recollection”, the Company’s inaugural, in-person performance featuring renowned local artists, with training backgrounds including Juilliard, Taipei National University of the Arts, New Zealand School of Dance, and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. The Company also established the Pre-Professional Dance Immersion Program to nurture the next generation of young, aspiring artists as well as the “Singapore Dance Intensive”. The Company premiered a new version of Lauren’s piece, “Ablaze”, at the 2023 Young Choreographer’s Festival at Symphony Space in New York City. She also presented “Intruder” at the 2023 Washington International Dance Festival & Choreography Award (Washington DC), the Doug Varone Device’s Showcase, and the Journey Dance Awards (both in New York City). She was a featured choreographer at the T2 Dance Company ChoreoFest 2023 in Boulder, Colorado and will present a new work at the Ocean Dance Festival in Bangladesh 2024. Lauren is also featured in a Panasonic commercial video. Lauren was overjoyed to perform 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. Previously, Lauren performed works by Christina Chan, Maybelle Lek, and Guofeng Hong and acted in Singapore Repertory Theatre’s “Ghostlight” (Dir. Dan Jenkins), collaborated/performed on “A Virtual Tour of Singapore” for the Strategy & Ops Team of Google, and 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. Lauren trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Yale Summer Conservatory for Actors, Boston Conservatory (Musical Theater), Limón Dance Company, Boston Dance Theater, Atlantic Acting School’s TV/Film Master Class (Maggie Kiley), Singapore Repertory Theatre's The Young Company, and Joffrey Ballet School in Florence, Italy. She trained her voice with Jeremy Koh, Kristin Schwecke (classical), and Robin Christian-McNair (IPA). Lauren is a frequent Guest Artist for SAS as well as several studios in Singapore and the Philippines. Her choreography has been featured in the United States, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Australia. Lauren enjoys sharing her passion for the arts and mentoring the next generation.