Sunday, July 8 | 10:00 - 11:45 AM
Firehouse Arts and Events Center
$18 general, $15 w/ student ID (no class cards)
Bellingham Repertory Dance's summer master class series continues on Sunday, July 8! Darion Smith will be visiting the area to create a brand new piece with BRD dancers to be premiered at the upcoming performance at the Firehouse on Oct 25-27 and Nov 1-3.
Darion Smith is the artistic director, resident choreographer, and co-founder of Janusphere Dance Company (JDC). Smith has created numerous choreographies for JDC, including evening-length works and recent exploration with dance on film. His contemporary dance work has been presented in New York City, California, Colorado, Rhode Island, Oregon, Washington State, Mexico, and Spain. In several of JDC's productions, Smith has collaborated with award-winning musicians such as: Reinhold Heil, Dick Hyman, David LaMarche, Yuval Waldman, Felix Ventouras, Jonathon Haffner, and Jonathan Melville Pratt.
As a dance educator, Smith has been a guest teacher at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College and taught ballet and jazz technique on tour and in New York City for Dance Theatre of Harlem's educational outreach and community programs. From 2015-2018 Smith was a graduate teaching fellow at the University of Oregon. Most recently, Smith lead students through ballet and contemporary technique masterclasses at Pacific Lutheran University as the 2018 guest artist in residence. As a professional dancer, Smith lived and worked in New York City for twelve years, where he performed with several companies including Dance Theatre of Harlem, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Buglisi Dance Theatre, New York Theater Ballet and Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance.
As a performing member of JDC, Smith appeared in many of the programs presented. Darion began his dance education with Kay Fulton at Santa Barbara City College and went on to study dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. Smith completed his MFA in dance at the University of Oregon in 2018. Smith is dedicated to fulfilling the artistic vision behind his work and the importance of dance in our world today and beyond.