Lauren Baines is a choreographer, performer, and interdisciplinary artist who has immersed herself in creating and self-producing theatre and dance throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond since 2009, including a recent project in which she produced a new play off-Broadway. In 2013, Baines was named one of the inaugural recipients of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artists Awards by the San Jose Rotary Club. She has presented her work at Dance Mission Theatre, the ZERO1 Garage, Montalvo Arts Center, the de Saisset Museum, and the subZERO Festival, and performed at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, ODC, the Montgomery Theatre, and more. Her own work is concerned with issues of memory, loss, communication, identity and the unconscious and takes the form of concert dance to site dance and devised theater, performance art and interdisciplinary collaborations, and screendance. She currently serves as Artistic Director of Lauren Baines Dance/Theatre, Artistic and Managing Director for Cardboard Box Theatre Project, and company member for several modern dance companies.

In addition, Baines has multidisciplinary arts management experience in the Silicon Valley non-profit arts sector including a four-year tenure at Montalvo Arts Center as Project Manager for the Lucas Artists Residency Program and has taught at various schools and studios in the area. She currently volunteers on several boards and steering committees for Bay Area organizations, including the de Saisset Museum and genARTS Silicon Valley. She holds a BA and BS from Santa Clara University (triple majoring in Theatre Arts with a Dance Emphasis, Art History, and Psychology). Baines is currently pursuing her MFA in Choreography and Performance at Mills College.

Chair photo by Bette Linderman, copyright 2013.