Memphis dancer Lauryn Adair Awarded FY27 IAF in Dance

From Jared Morrison, Director of Performing Arts

The Tennessee Arts Commission has awarded Lauryn Adair its Individual Artist Fellowship in Dance.

A dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist based in Memphis, Adair draws her movement vocabulary directly from her hometown, describing dance as inseparable from the city’s blues, soul, hip-hop, and gospel traditions. Her fellowship application centered on an artistic statement reflecting on how Memphis shaped her as a mover, paired with footage of solo and improvised works including “1919,” “when we move,” and “waiting room.”

Adair’s training includes ten years of ballet and seven each of modern and jazz, studying with Collage Dance Collective, New Ballet Ensemble and School, and at the University of Memphis. Her teachers include Kevin Thomas, Katie Smythe, Michael Medcalf, Tammy Hurt, and Dorian Rhea. She has performed works by Hurt, Thomas, Darrell Moultrie, Brandye Lee, Josh Manculich, and Neil Martin, dancing soloist roles in “Paquita,” “Monologue,” and “Carnival Vitas.” Her own choreography includes “Where Does Time Go?” (2020) and “I Will Survive” (2023).

Teaching is central to her practice. An ABT-certified instructor through Level 2, Adair leads ballet and creative movement classes at New Ballet Ensemble and School and through the organization’s residency programs at Dunbar Elementary and LaRose Elementary, as well as at Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal School. She names creative movement as her favorite genre for its openness — the way it lets dancers keep discovering new ways to move. Her aim in the studio is to give children a space to move freely and leave class with more confidence than they walked in with, work she finds especially meaningful because it is happening in the city that shaped her.