Kristen Smiarowski is a choreographer and interdisciplinary artist who creates work for the stage, public sites, gallery settings and film that evince a deep concern with the role of dance in society. This interest has manifested in the creation of site-specific works, an approach to choreography drawing on current events, and an ongoing investigation of performance and cultural memory. She is grounded in modern, postmodern, and experimental dance, and her work is influenced by theater, experimental music and literature.
Smiarowski’s work has been presented in Southern California at the REDCAT/Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater, Highways Performance Space, Edgemar, UCLA, Center Stage Theater, Loyola Marymount University, The Wooden Floor (Saint Joseph Ballet) and CalArts. Her work has also been presented at TanzTangente (Berlin), Links Hall (Chicago) and at festivals in New York, New Jersey and Maine. Selected funding and awards: University of California Institute for Research in the Arts Performance Practice and Research Grant (2010/11), World Festival of Sacred Music (2011), The Wooden Floor (Saint Joseph Ballet) New Dance Commissioning Grant (2009), Durfee Foundation ARC Grant (2006), LMU’s Visiting Artists and Lecturers Fund, UCLA Hothouse Artist-in-Residence (2005, 2009).
Smiarowski is a founding member of the Los Angeles-based collective, Choreographers Working Group. She has been an adjunct professor at Loyola Marymount University’s Dance Program since 2004 and is currently piloting the Dance for Veterans Program at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. Her approach to dance education and choreographic process has been strongly influenced by her studies with Victoria Marks and Liz Lerman. She received her M.F.A. in Dance from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures.
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