Lauren Edson, originally from Boise, Idaho, is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder
of LED, a multimedia arts organization that merges dance, original music, and film
into cinematic worlds and immersive storytelling. She received her training at the
University of North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School and her professional
experiences include: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, BodyVox and Trey McIntyre Project.
She returned to her hometown of Boise and founded LED in 2015 with a mission to build
a thriving community of artists and art-making practices that foster risk-taking,
innovation, and long-term sustainability.
She has been described by the The Seattle Times as a “choreographer of the first rank,”
and her company was named by Dance Magazine as one of "25 to Watch,” in 2020. Her
original creations have been commissioned and presented by renowned organizations
across the country, including White Bird (OR), The Kennedy Center (DC), Jacob’s Pillow
Dance (MA), Milwaukee Ballet (WI), Whim W’Him (WA), Dance Camera West (CA), FASS Forward
Film Festival (MTL), Ballet Idaho (ID), Northwest Dance Project (OR), and SALT Contemporary
Dance (UT).
Her recognitions and awards have included the 2022 Governor’s Award for Excellence
in the Arts, the 2021 Alexa Rose Fellowship, the ICA Performing Arts Fellowships (2016,
2022), a Dance Lab NY selection 2023, winner of NWDP’s Pretty Creatives’ International
Choreography Competition, Grand Prize at the McCallum Theater’s Dance Under the Stars
Choreography Festival, a United States Arts Fellow Nominee and the 2019 Washington
Award for Excellence in Choreography.