Darion Smith

About the Artist

Darion Smith, 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, Maryland, Rhode Island, Oregon, Washington State, Mexico, and Spain. In several of JDC's productions, Smith has collaborated with award-winning musicians in both concert, and in creation including, Reinhold Heil, Dick Hyman, David LaMarche, Yuval Waldman, Felix Ventouras, Jonathon Haffner, and Jonathan Melville Pratt.   Darion Smith is currently an assistant professor of dance at Howard Community College (HCC). Prior to joining the dance program at HCC Darion was a graduate teaching fellow at the University of Oregon, 2015-2018. 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. Darion taught ballet and "Voice Amplified Dancing", a dance class integrating movement with the voice, at the 2017 American College Dance Association Northwest Regional Conference. Smith recently led 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 company member of Janusphere, Smith performed in many of the programs presented including his own work. 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. He was a graduate teaching fellow at the University of Oregon's Department of Dance and graduated with an MFA in dance in June 2018. As director and co-founder of Janusphere Dance Company, Smith is dedicated to fulfilling the artistic vision behind his work and the importance of sharing dance.