Amanda Smith

Born in Orange County, California Amanda began dancing at the age of 3 doing ballet, tap and jazz at California Dance Academy. By 12 years old, she was taken under the wing of Charis Moses where she began seriously training in classical and contemporary ballet at her studio in Yorba Linda, CA. She then continued her training at Anaheim Ballet under Larry and Sarma Rosenberg in Anaheim, CA. There she trained and performed amongst other dancers of Anaheim Ballet as well as performing at the Anaheim International Dance Festival alongside Clifton Brown, Maria Kotchekova and Misty Copeland. In 2008 she moved to NY to study dance at SUNY Purchase from 2008 to 2012 and received her BFA in Fine Arts. She trained under teachers such as Rosanna Seravalli, Bettijane Sills, Stephanie Tooman, Megan Williams, & Ted Kivitt. She also performed works by George Balanchine, Helen Pickett and Nicolo Fonte and studied abroad for Dance New York International Dance Festival in Madrid and Burgos, Spain. In 2012, she was hired by Jean Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride for the 2nd company of Charlotte Ballet and a year later she was promoted to 1st company. While at Charlotte Ballet she danced roles such as the Cupid variation from Paquita coached by Glenda Lucena, Western Symphony Third Movement coached by Patricia McBride and excerpts from Chants by Alonzo King. There she worked with and performed choreography by George Balanchine, Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, Dwight Rhoden, Mark Diamond, Mark Godden, Sasha Janes, Alonzo King and others. In the summer of 2015, she moved back to New York City and in January of 2016 she began working with New York Theatre Ballet under the direction of Diana Byer where she danced works by Jerome Robbins, Antony Tudor, Antonia Franceschi, Keith Michaels and Jim Sutton. After freelancing and teaching & doing projects with the Black Iris Project and choreographer; William Isaac, she was hired by Virginia Johnson for Dance Theatre of Harlem June 2017.