Lauren Edson, originally from Boise, Idaho, is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of LED. She is a dancer, award-winning choreographer, producer and director. She received her training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School and was a celebrated dancer with Trey McIntyre Project for many years. She returned to her hometown with the desire to build a community of artists and art-making practices that inspire risk-taking, greatness and sustainability.

Described as a “choreographer of the first rank,” by the Seattle Times, her works have been commissioned and presented by: The Kennedy Center (DC), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (MA), San Francisco Dance Film Festival (CA), Dance Camera West (CA), Winspear Opera House (TX), The McCallum Theater (CA), The Freeman Company (CA), Houston Metropolitan Dance (TX), Milwaukee Ballet (WI), Whim W’Him (WA), Ballet Idaho (ID), Northwest Dance Project (OR) and SALT Contemporary Dance (UT).

She received the 2022 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, is a 2021 Alexa Rose Fellow, a two-time recipient of the ICA Performing Arts Fellowship (2015, 2021), winner of the Pretty Creatives International Choreography Competition, a United States Artist Fellowship nominee and recipient of the 2019 Washington Award for Excellence in Choreography.

In January 2015, she founded LED with her husband and composer, Andrew Stensaas and has continued to be at the forefront of artistic innovation, bringing Boise into a global arts conversation.

Described by the Seattle Times as “ an important addition to the art’s scene in the northwest” the company has been recognized by Dance Magazine as “25 to Watch” for 2020 an honor given to break out artists and companies of the upcoming year.