Lisa Smith, M.F.A.
Dance for Music Theater/
Jazz/Character
Office: LART 343
Office Phone: (915) 747-7012
Ms. Smith began her dance training in Dallas, Texas under Victor Moreno and Alice Willey at the Edith James School. She studied at Texas Christian University under Fernando Schauffenburg and Jerry Bywaters Cochran before finishing her B.A. in Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. While in Austin she studied with Igor Youskevitch, Eugene Slavin, and for many years with Stanley Hall. Smith has performed soloist and principal roles with the Austin Civic Ballet (now Ballet Austin), the Austin Ballet Theatre, and the Ballet of the Stadttheatre St.Gallen, Switzerland. Upon her
return to Austin, Ms. Smith served as founder and director of the Texas National Dance Theatre. Most recently Ms. Smith directed the Contemporary Dance Theatre of El Paso and produced the El Paso Dancers’ Workshop.
Smith has choreographed many classical and contemporary ballets including Cinderella, Gershwin Songs, Exultavit, The Little Prince, Walk This Way, Beauty and the Beast, and Café Manhattan among others. She has appeared in original works by Bill Evans of the Bill Evans Dance Company, David Nixon, artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada, Septime Weber, director of the Washington Ballet, and David Parsons of the Parsons Dance Company.
Before coming to UTEP, Ms.
Smith taught dance residencies in El Paso county middle schools as part of
an NEA grant through the City of El Paso Arts Resources Department’s
Arts After Hours program. She
developed the program to include workshops for hearing impaired students. Smith’s other teaching credits include: Austin Community
College, The Austin Ballet Theatre, The South Central Dance Festival,
Incarnate Word College Summer Program, The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Theater and Dance, and El Paso Community College.