LaVelle Smith Jr.: Leave It All on the Table: From YPAS Student to Choreographer for Michael Jackson and Some of Music’s Biggest Stages

By Alisha Proffitt • Photos By Kathryn Harrington 

At Louisville’s Youth Performing Arts School, the hallways are familiar to LaVelle Smith Jr. “Ever since I can remember, I wanted to dance,” he recalls. That ambition did not come with certainty or privilege. It began with a kind-hearted suggestion. “I had a wonderful teacher, a music teacher in 8th grade, who told my mom about performing arts school,” LaVelle said. “And she said that will be fine if he gets his grades up. So, I got my grades up, and I was able to come for 10th grade here, sophomore year. And it changed my life.” 

The school provided him with technical discipline. Ballet, in particular, became foundational for LaVelle. “This school changed the way that I dance. I didn’t know ballet before I came here,” he said. “I had brilliant teachers here, so when I was sent off into the real world of dance, I was armed with everything that I needed. I had it all.” 

At the time, his ambitions were modest. “All I really wanted was to be able to have my own apartment and eat,” he said. “That was pretty much what I wanted, and I surpassed that a long time ago. But that’s all I really wanted was to be a working dancer who could eat.” 

Instead, he became one of the choreographers behind some of the most recognizable performances in contemporary music. 

After leaving Louisville, LaVelle joined Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles, where technical training and timing converged. He found steady work as a dancer and began assisting with choreography. His opportunities expanded quickly. “I really would love to say that I was so brilliant and I orchestrated everything,” he said. “I would say lots of prayer is how I got there. Lots of prayer.” 

His early choreographic recognition came through his work with En Vogue, where he created the choreography for “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” and “Free Your Mind,” both of which earned MTV Video Music Awards. “I didn’t really think about it being choreography, I was just enjoying a job, making these girls look the best that I could make them look, they were beautiful singers, and I wanted the dancing to match their voices, so that was my mission,” LaVelle said of the collaboration. 

The moment that really clarified the scale of his success came later, during his work with Michael Jackson. LaVelle had already been part of Jackson’s creative circle when he was called into a rehearsal to replace another choreographer. 

“We got a choreographer, Michael wasn’t happy with what he was doing, and he was like, ‘somebody go get Lavelle,’” he said. “So I go in the room, Michael is there, the choreographer is there, Michael said simply, ‘What would you do?’” LaVelle stepped up to the plate and put his vision on the table, “and he said, ‘That’s what I want, everybody out of the room.’ It took us about half an hour, and we got the opening of ‘Jam’.” 

That sequence would become the opening number of Jackson’s Dangerous tour, seen by massive audiences worldwide. Lavelle continued to work on Jackson’s tours and stage productions, helping translate Jackson’s ideas into choreography that could be executed consistently across large-scale productions. 

Jackson’s influence meant a lot more to LaVelle than opportunity. “Michael always just allowed me to do what I wanted, but always told me to go take the human body to places it’s never been before,” he said of his time with Michael. 

LaVelle’s work expanded to include accomplished artists such as Janet Jackson and Beyoncé, Diana Ross and The Rolling Stones, along with television and live event productions. Over time, he accumulated multiple MTV awards and industry nominations. “Legends, so many legends,” he said. “It’s been a blessing and I was saying earlier- you don’t think about it, at least I don’t think about it while it’s happening.” 

His creative influences were not limited to collaborators. He cites choreographer Bob Fosse. “Bob Fosse is someone that I really admire, his work, and I had the chance to audition for him. Didn’t take the job, but when I got to see his process, I think that helped me a lot,” he said. 

LaVelle has no shortage of inspiration: “It just comes from wherever; I’m inspired by everything and every dancer. Every great dancer to me is an inspiration.”

Smith’s return to Louisville now is focused on his upcoming event, “Legacy in Motion: LaVelle Smith’s Dance Journey from Kentucky to Pop Icons,” presented by Kentucky to the World and Kentucky Performing Arts, which will present him in a live program at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. The event on March 5th will combine conversation and performance, featuring local dancers performing his choreography.

“I am blessed,” LaVelle said of the project. “My former dance teacher, friend, and mentor, David Thurman, hooked it up. We have been working on this for quite a while, and it was great to get to collaborate with my former dance teacher and just be in this world again; it has meant the world to me.”

The event also allows him to highlight the depth of talent in Kentucky. “They’re going to see some great dancing,” he said. “I am so proud to say Kentucky has talent. There’s no doubt about it. I always knew that, but now I think everybody else will get to see that too. And that’s going to make me really happy. Expect some really beautiful dancing.”

For LaVelle, the return is not about recognition as much as continuity. The training he received in Louisville gave him the tools that led to his career, and the opportunity to express the durability of that foundation is truly a full-circle moment. 

His advice to young dancers hints at the uncertainty he must have experienced early on, as many do when they start a new journey. “It’s ok to be afraid, but be afraid and do it anyway,” he said. “Some of the best things happen when you face the fear. Just go for it, whatever your dream is—doctor, lawyer, mother, father—whatever you want to be in life, go for it and be your very best at it. That’s all you can do. Leave it all on the table.”

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