Matthew Smith’s objective is to help dance artists reach their highest potential through creative movement and out-of-the box thinking. His style can be characterized as a blend between hip-hop and contemporary, and he emphasizes the significance of musicality and the idea that music fuels the soul. Matthew’s love for dance performance, choreography, and teaching journeys back to the age of 3 where his passion for artistic movement first began. He graduated from Houston’s High School of the Performing and Visual Arts, where he was exposed to a variety of dance disciplines. Matthew then began to assist top industry choreographers such as Mia Michaels, Braham Logan Crane, Lisette Bustamante, and Stephen “Twitch” Boss, just to name a few. These firsthand experiences spurred him to greater heights, laying the groundwork for his future success. He is fortunate to be on faculty with the teaching tour Artists Simply Human Dance Convention amongst industry legends that he was once a student of. Matthew is also on faculty at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy located in Los Angeles, California. In addition, he teaches and creates award winning choreography at numerous dance studios throughout the United States. With his contagious charisma, Matthew is able to interact and connect with a wide spectrum of students of all ages and levels.
Matthew has had great opportunities within the dance industry thus far. He has appeared in music video projects with artists such as Macklemore, Sia, Beyoncé, and Jesse & Joy. Matthew has worked with Andrew Winghart on concept visuals including “Pneuma” and “Blue Wave”. His movie credits include Stargirl on Disney+, choreographed by Mandy Moore. Additionally, he has traveled the world dancing with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. He has also worked as a choreographer’s assistant alongside Mel Charlot on So You Think You Can Dance.
Matthew’s teaching philosophy is based on creating a welcoming and diverse environment that encourages students to be their most authentic self. He emboldens you to identify your artistic voice while also ensuring that you understand dance movements are a visual representation of the music you hear and feel. In his classes, he highlights the value of supporting and applauding one another within the space while also helping students lose any sense of fear and judgment. He also challenges his students to stretch their possibilities. Matthew’s versatile dance training grants him multiple influences when creating. His dynamic movement structure and vocabulary is based on his training in ballet, hip-hop, contemporary, modern, and improvisation. With these skills, he yearns to establish a solid foundation of movement that dancers can utilize and add to their own unique movement style.
LOS ANGELES 
