Laura Smyth
Assistant Professor of Dance Loyola Marymount University
Biography
Laura Ann Smyth, originally from Canada, is a Los Angeles-based dancer, educator, and choreographer. Smyth holds a BA in Sociology, a Certificate in Journalism, an MFA in Dance, and most recently obtained a PhD in Dance Studies from Texas Woman’s University. Smyth has served as faculty at Santa Monica College, Long Beach City College, Golden West College, and Cornish College of the Arts, as well as Loyola Marymount University, where she is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance.
Smyth has performed professionally in Canada and the United States in modern, contemporary, and jazz genres with a variety of concert dance companies in critically acclaimed performances including JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble at the Playboy Jazz Festival as well as Jacob’s Pillow.
She has presented on topics such as codification in jazz dance, commercial dance in higher education, and dance and rhetoric at national and international annual dance conferences such as the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), and World Dance Alliance (WDA).
Her choreographic work has been presented at post-secondary institutions throughout Southern California and on professional dance companies in Los Angeles, Cleveland, and beyond. Smyth with her colleague Taryn Vander Hoop, co-hosts a podcast titled LMU ON Dance: Critical Conversations. The podcast has hosted the likes of Akram Khan and Jowole Willa Jo Zollar. She holds a Simonson Technique Teacher Training Certification and was accepted into the inaugural Alvin Ailey Horton Dance Teacher Training Program for the Summer of 2025.
Smyth has performed professionally in Canada and the United States in modern, contemporary, and jazz genres with a variety of concert dance companies in critically acclaimed performances including JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble at the Playboy Jazz Festival as well as Jacob’s Pillow.
She has presented on topics such as codification in jazz dance, commercial dance in higher education, and dance and rhetoric at national and international annual dance conferences such as the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), and World Dance Alliance (WDA).
Her choreographic work has been presented at post-secondary institutions throughout Southern California and on professional dance companies in Los Angeles, Cleveland, and beyond. Smyth with her colleague Taryn Vander Hoop, co-hosts a podcast titled LMU ON Dance: Critical Conversations. The podcast has hosted the likes of Akram Khan and Jowole Willa Jo Zollar. She holds a Simonson Technique Teacher Training Certification and was accepted into the inaugural Alvin Ailey Horton Dance Teacher Training Program for the Summer of 2025.
Areas of Expertise
Choreography
Jazz Dance
