Lauren Cox is a storyteller, teacher and traveler born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lauren was nurtured young as a poet by Helena Jones who believed that "if you teach a child poetry, you open something up in them that will never close". Mrs. Jones taught Lauren all subjects through the lens of poetry in her formative years. She was at the same time a competitive Rhythmic Gymnast eventually achieving 20th in the nation in 2001.
While pursuing a degree in Sociology at San Francisco State University Lauren worked as Health, Fitness & Life Skills Coordinator for Boys and Girls Clubs of SF and as an instructor for Stanford University's study on Diabetes prevention through dance. She became engulfed in the Bay Area Hip Hop community with Culture Shock Oakland, directing one of their youth groups, competing, performing and choreographing in events such as World Hip Hop Championships. Lauren was one of the co-creators of Groove Against The Machine SF and A Tribe Called Groove Youth Ensemble. She also studied Dunham Technique & Haitian Cultural Dances with the late great Alicia Pierce during this time.
Upon graduation Lauren moved to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. For nine months she studied and became fluent in Portuguese & Samba working as a private English tutor for business professionals. From Brazil, Lauren moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City to study Jazz Dance under Sheila Barker who is a second generation teacher of Dianne McIntyre and Frank Hatchett. For 10 years Lauren studied and performed many styles of dance and performance.
Live shows and television credits include Saturday Night Live, Alicia Keyes, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, Pharrell, LLCoolJ, Ariana & The Rose, Joey Yung and Kota Yamazaki/Fluid Hug-Hug. Off-Broadway includes Seeing You as night club singer, Joan DeBeauvoir; Afro-Cuban Yiddish Opera Hatuey: Memory of Fire (Dance Captain) and the as Associate Choreographer, Female Swing & Dance Captain for John Leguizamo's Kiss My Aztec at Berkeley Rep and LaJolla Playhouse in California. She has also appeared in commercials for NYU Langone, Apple and Samsung as well as Music Videos for Vonavi, The Misterwives, Giovanni James, Already Late and more. Lauren has worked with industry leaders such as Maija Garcia (Fela! Broadway & International Tour), Ryan Heffington (Sia & The O.A.), Randy Weiner (Sleep No More & The Box), Rhapsody James (Chris Brown, Beyonce & Trey Songz), Fatima Robinson (The Wiz Live & Pharrell), Nick Kinkle (Gwen Stefani), NappyTabs (J.Lo & more), Joanna Numata (Joey Yung) and Danielle Flora (SNL).
Her personal research and love of dance has led her to teach in Trinidad & Tobago, India, Hong Kong, France, Spain, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia. Lauren was on faculty for the year round program at Joffrey Ballet School Jazz & Contemporary for six years, developing curriculum in Jazz, Dance History, Critical Analysis & Industry Prep. She also taught Jazz at The Ailey School Junior Division and was a visiting guest faculty for the José Limón Dance CO2. Lauren is now an Assistant Professor of Jazz Dance and Pedagogy as well as Associate Director of the Dance Program at University of Massachusetts Amherst
Lauren is the co-creator and lead choreographer of SPACES, an immersive show held in public spaces with Kaimera Productions. SPACES is an experience that merges contemporary performance with the ancient art of storytelling. It goes beyond site-specific, it is place-specific as each piece is build around the site of its performance, but above all, it is created and performed with the local community that give this place its life and identity. At the heart of the piece local residents share intimate real-life stories and they are woven together by dance, music and multimedia. With Kaimera, Lauren has produced SPACES in Harlem, New York; Oakland, California and Saint Denis, France on three separate occasions. Kaimera is teaming up with the Albany Park Theater Project in Chicago, Illinois to present an enhanced version in 2027. There has also been SPACES production in film with residents and dancers in each of these cities as well as in Istanbul and Bangalore. With Kaimera and the Environmental Defense Fund, Lauren had the honor of directing movement for a short film based on the diminishing culture of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe on the Isle of Jean Charles who are the first climate refugees in the United States, having lost 98% of their land.
Pulling from heritage and justice, Lauren has developed her own style in teaching, choreography and performance now infusing them into performance poetry pieces. She debuted her performance poetry at TEDx Asbury Park detailing the poignant story of her Grandparents in post World War II Germany, which she has turned into a short dance film called Edelweiss. She has also presented at We The Women Collective covered by Vogue Magazine and Wise Fruit NYC A Planned Parenthood benefit where she was a resident host for five renditions. Lauren is the producer of Stories from The Basement, a space for storytellers to hash out new work in front of an inviting audience.
Lauren's art has been commissioned by TEDx Asbury Park, Ernst & Young, Columbia University, Hunter College, Joffrey Ballet School, The Ailey School, Milford Readers & Writers Festival, MassBliss Mindfulness Festival, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Harlem Arts Festival, The Broadway Experience and many more.
Lauren continues to grow and create while secretly hoping artistic renaissance comes back around.