Lauren Edson

Originally from Boise, Idaho, Lauren Edson is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of LED. A dancer, award-winning choreographer, producer, and director, she received her formal training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School. She spent many years as a celebrated dancer with Trey McIntyre Project before returning to her hometown with a vision: to build a vibrant community of artists grounded in risk-taking, excellence, and sustainability.

Described by The Seattle Times as a “choreographer of the first rank,” her work has been commissioned and presented by prestigious venues and organizations across the country, including The Kennedy Center (DC), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (MA), San Francisco Dance Film Festival (CA), Winspear Opera House (TX), McCallum Theatre (CA), Ballet Idaho (ID), Whim W'Him, (WA), Houston Met Dance (TX), Eisenhower Dance Ensemble (MI), SALT Contemporary Dance (UT), University of North Carolina School of the Arts (NC), among many others.

Lauren’s accolades include the 2022 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, a 2021 Alexa Rose Fellowship, and two ICA Performing Arts Fellowships (2015, 2021). She received the 2019 Washington Award for Excellence in Choreography. She is the winner of numerous choreography competitions, including Northwest Dance Project's Pretty Creatives International Choreography Competition, the Grand Prize at the Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival, the Milwaukee Ballet's Genesis International Choreography Competition Audience Favorite Award, and Western Michigan University's Great Works Choreography Prize.

In 2015, Lauren co-founded LED with her husband, composer Andrew Stensaas. Since then, she has remained at the forefront of artistic innovation—creating cinematic, genre-defying work that places Boise in the context of a global arts conversation. LED has been recognized by Dance Magazine as one of the “25 to Watch” and was described by The Seattle Times as “an important addition to the art scene in the Northwest.”

Lauren is also the proud mother of two beautiful boys, Finn and Liam.