Amara Tabor-Smith facts for kids

Amara Tabor-Smith (born in 1965) is a talented choreographer and performer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She is well-known for her amazing dance pieces. These works celebrate and explore the history of African-Americans and women.

Amara Tabor-Smith's Career in Dance

Amara Tabor-Smith spent ten years dancing with the famous Urban Bush Women dance company in New York City. She also helped lead the company as an Associate Artistic Director. During this time, she helped create ways for the company to connect with communities through dance.

Deep Waters Dance Theater

Amara Tabor-Smith started her own dance company called Deep Waters Dance Theater. Her dance works often use ritual, which means they follow special patterns or traditions. She explores important topics for people of color and issues about the environment in her dances.

Notable Dance Works

In 2011, she created a piece called Our Daily Bread. This dance explored what and how people eat. It even included live cooking and eating on stage! People said it was a funny and emotional dance show that made them think.

In 2013, Amara Tabor-Smith won an award for her work He Moved Swiftly But Gently Down the Not Too Crowded Street: Ed Mock and Other True Tales in a City That Once Was. This project included 11 performances in different places around the city. Each performance told a part of the life story of Ed Mock, a dance pioneer from the Bay Area. Many people felt that this work brought back the lively spirit of San Francisco.

Collaborations and Performances

Amara Tabor-Smith has performed in dances created by many other famous choreographers. Some of these artists include Ed Mock, Joanna Haigood, Ronald K. Brown, and Liz Lerman. She has also worked with theater artists like Anna Deavere Smith and Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Amara Tabor-Smith also choreographed and danced in the documentary film Making Whiteness Visible. Her work has been shown in many places, including Brazil, Congo, New York City, and all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

Awards and Recognition

Amara Tabor-Smith has received many awards and special opportunities. These include grants, which are like money given to artists to help them create new work. She has also been an artist-in-residence at places like The Headlands Center for the Arts. This means she gets a special place and time to focus on her art.

She is currently an Artist in Residence at ODC/Dance in San Francisco. In 2016, she received a Creative Capital award with artist Ellen Sebastian Chang. Most recently, in 2021, Amara Tabor-Smith was awarded the Rainin Arts Fellowship.