Intrigued by soft power, delight, sustainability and kinesthetic logic Sonya Smith is a performer, teacher, aerial investigator and choreographer. In 2019 she assumed ownership of Le Cirque Centre in Ashland, Oregon. Her work with the youth (and adults!) combines a deep somatic understanding of the body, joy in flying, and commitment to creating a safe and inclusive space that offers all people the space to be creative and empowered.

She was the first to earn an MFA in Dance with an emphasis on Aerial Dance from the University of Colorado Boulder, where her paper “The Aesthetics of Aerial Dance and Aerial Circus” was published by the Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship, and available here.

Formal theoretical and somatic education; clowning with Giovanni Fusetti; contact improvisation; and a delight in quirky physicality informs her practice as a teacher, performer and creator.  Her teaching work has taken her from the Bay Area to Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Thailand. Before and after graduate school Smith called the Bay Area home, privileged to participate in the diverse dance community by working with artists including Zaccho Dance Theater, Lizz Roman and Dancers, Flyaway Productions, BANDALOOP, Rapt Performance Group, Dance Ceres, Kim Epifano/Epiphany Productions, Eat Cake Productions,   Dance Brigade, and Berkeley Playhouse. While in Boulder she had the honor to be in creative process with Michelle Ellsworth, Gesel Mason and Kim Olson/SWEETEDGE.

From 2002-2005 Smith worked as the facilities manager and core member of 848 Community Space and CounterPULSE.  As a member of the Board of Directors, she coordinated construction of the first CounterPULSE space in the SOMA district of San Francisco.  

Her work is a fiscally sponsored project of Zaccho Dance Theatre.