Rhythmically Speaking visiting artist Laura Ann Smyth (Los Angeles) is in town this week to set a piece on Rhythmically Speaking company dancers for our production The Cohort 2022: Stage August 11-13 at the Southern Theater. Laura will teach two open classes while she is here:
Wednesday, July 27, 5:30-7:00pm at Cowles Center, Studio 5B – RS MoveTogether
As space is limited, pre-registration is suggested but not required. To pre-register, hop over to our website to pay the $10.00 class via Venmo.
Friday, July 29, 10:00-11:15am at Zenon Dance, Cowles Center Studio 4A – Friday Morning Jazz
Class is hybrid, with space for 10 distanced students in-studio and a high-quality Zoom option for folks joining from home/remotely. Please note that while masks are now optional at the Cowles Center (except for performances), masks are still required at Zenon. Register for class.
Laura Ann Smyth, originally from Canada, is a Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer, and educator. Smyth holds a BA in sociology with a minor in dance from the University of Calgary, an MFA in dance from the University of California, Irvine and is currently a PhD Candidate in dance at Texas Woman’s University. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of Black jazz-informed dance practices and embodied rhetoric. Smyth is a member of Donna Sternberg and Dancers, JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble, and is a full-time faculty member at Loyola Marymount University. Spirited and inclusive in her approach to the dissemination of Black dance culture and practices, Smyth is grateful and humbled by any opportunity to engage in the gift that is dance.
Laura’s piece for The Cohort 2022, “Character A/Musings”, is an exploration of identities. With an emphasis on rhythm, storytelling capability and sophisticated performance, this piece uses the jazz idiom to consider the way in which we invent and reinvent ourselves throughout our lifetime.
Join us next week to experience Laura’s exciting perspective on jazz dance!