Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney Smith
Hi Sydney, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My start in the Industry started when I was 16 years old and my mom and Stepdad guided me to take my dancing to the next step! They signed me up for unlimited classes at IDA Hollywood (International Dance Academy)
That is where I met most of my connections and got to meet some of the greatest mentors ever!
Once I was 17 I audition to be apart of IDA Certificate Program, which I ended up getting the highest scholarship they offered at the time. Within that three month program I got to learn about teaching/choreographing/performing and the business side of being a freelancing dancer! All of this lead me up to an audition to an agency which I did not get. Although since I made so many connections through the program I started booking jobs and performances left and right the second I turned 18. So many choreographers gave me chances and opportunities that I’m still very grateful for today!
G Madison gave me my first ever live performance, Henrique Quos and Valentino Vladimirov let me train by their sides, assist and booked me on some of the best jobs I’ve gotten to do! Samantha Long gave me my first official assisting job with her brand A Threat where I got to learn so much about branding yourself. Liezel Marie taught me hard work and training with a community through Zulu Maniacs and Project La’Vaude, she has also gave me so many opportunities as a dancer and choreographer/teacher! Walter Moran and Stefan Lopez trained me in their kid dance group 818 Empire, where I got to learn so many styles of dance and got exposure through events and different choreographers! So many people that I’ve connected with and got the pleasure of learning and working for!
I also have to thank the man who really believed in me when I first started dancing at 11 years old, Cass Smith, my first hiphop teacher!
He told me one day at a dance competition that he sees me going places and he sees me making it! That first belief is what made me the dancer I am today!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve definitely had to work hard for where I’m at, their were teachers from the start of my journey who really didn’t believe in me and people who I thought were friends that put me down on my dreams! Even my home life, it was only really my mom and stepdad who really believed in me from the jump but others in my family definitely teased on me about being a dancer and even told me theirs no way I’d make it.
Before I started dancing I lacked confidence, when I started dancing it made me become a new person! Although I’ve definitely had push back from others opinions, the confidence I grew from this journey definitely helped me ignore them.
Once I started in the industry it was hard because I started right before I was an adult. I was couch hopping in LA because my mom moved to Bakersfield at the time and I didn’t have a license at the time, so I did anything I could to be in classes and learning from my mentors! I had great friends at the time and my sister who would let me stay with them but it still wasn’t an easy process sleeping on a couch, taking the bus everywhere and living out of a box for quite some time.
But all these obstacles definitely made me grateful for what I have and what I have achieved, and it made me grow tough skin because we all know a dancer’s life is a lot of NO’s and a few YES’s
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Right now I’m in my Choreography/Teaching stage, and I really do enjoy teaching the younger generation!
I currently teach the HipHop program and competition team at Aspire Dance Studio! My goal is to teach the culture of HipHop instead of just combos and steps. I’m really proud of the progress I’ve made so far there because even though I’m teaching them I’m learning just as much as they are. As a teacher I do believe you never truly stop learning and these kids definitely push me to expand my horizon, to teach and spread any knowledge I’ve gain! I do take different styles of Hiphop and I’m always finding myself in conversations about Hiphop and I always take it back to the studio and tell them the importance of it!
I see the growth and development and it shows every time they perform! I’m also very grateful for their excitement to learn and get better at Hiphop! This studio started with only a few Hiphop classes and 1 competition team when I started 5 years ago to now having a bunch of classes in different levels, two competition teams and a hiphop crew!
I have to thank Alexia Liavas for bringing me on when I was only 20 years old and trusting me right away with a competition group and letting me express and teach the way I do!
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters to me most is that I’m leaving a positive mark in not just what I do or who I’ve worked and danced for but in the impact I make in others lives!
If it’s helping someone out, getting a friend booked on a job, choreographing someone’s first solo/choreographing someone’s senior solo, breaking down a step and seeing it click, making someone smile after a bad day. Knowing that I’m able to positively impact something or someone just makes life so much better!
Pricing:
- •Privates ($60 hr + room Rental)
- •Group classes ($25 per person + room rental)
- •Group Choreography (price ranges)
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sydney_sassydancer?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SydneySmithDancer?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@sydneysmithdancer?si=C4LmPOPZekLq-VmK
