360 Workshops | Artist Faculty
Kia S. Smith is a Chicago native and the Founder, Resident Choreographer, and Director of Vision and Strategy for South Chicago Dance Theatre. As a freelance choreographer, Kia’s recent and upcoming commissions include Scottish Ballet School at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2024), Resilience Dance (2024), New Dance Partners (2024), James Madison University (2024), Columbia College Chicago (2024), Opera Laguna (2024), Houston Contemporary Dance Company (2023), Chicago Opera Theater (2023), Giordano Dance Chicago (2023) and others.
Kia’s first evening length work Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley for South Chicago Dance Theatre premiered at the Auditorium Theatre of Chicago in 2023. See Chicago Dance affirmed “Smith’s first evening length piece ‘Memoirs’ is a tour de force and a sensory immersion into this artist’s creative well springs”. Kia is a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance where she received the Joan Myers Brown Artist Development Fund scholarship in 2018. In 2021, she was a 3Arts Make A Wave awardee and an Ann & Weston Hicks Choreographic Fellow at the renowned Jacob’s Pillow. In 2022, Kia received the prestigious Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist award. Kia was named a Rising Star in 2023 by Chicago Magazine, Player of the Moment in the category of Dance for New City Magazines annual 50 Players List in 2023, and one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch for 2024. WBEZ recently recognized Kia as a “breakout artist” for 2024!