We were lucky to catch up with Liam Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Liam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I think it was around the age of 16? I had always had my hands in many creative pots, so to speak. Dance just happened to be one of those things I did to look cool or get girls, funny enough. I also had parents who really pushed me academically, which was good and bad. Good, because I did relatively well in school, but bad since I started becoming demotivated and started feeling pressure to live up to their expectations.

Around this time, I got invited to a week long bootcamp for teenage creatives interested in singing, dancing and musicianship, of which I did all 3 at the time. You were free to take whichever workshop on whichever day you wished. You could take singing classes for all 5 days, for example, or take a mixture of all of them. On the first day, I took the singing workshop; on the second, the musicianship workshop, and on the third, I decided to take the dance workshop, which changed everything for me.

I took the class of a very internationally renowned South African Choreographer, Rudi Smit, and taking his class was the start of my obsession with dance. I truly owe a lot to him planting the seed in my head.

After that 5-day experience, I became even more demotivated and disillusioned at school, and I realized that, above all, all I wanted to do was dance. With a little bit of help from the bootcamp organizer, I had convinced my parents to let me try moving to a theatre school, where I really got to push the boundaries of what I knew about dance at the time, and since then, dance has become an irreplaceable partner in my life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Liam Smith, but I go by LOX. I’m a 25-year old dancer and creative artist, originally from Cape Town, South Africa, now living in Tokyo, Japan. I usually teach classes and compete in dance battles, which is where I’ve been lucky to receive a little bit of notoriety, but I honestly feel I have so much further to go. The work is never truly done, as they say.

I recently came back from South Korea, where I taught a class, and competed in around 4 events, achieving 2nd Place in 2 of the 4. Aside from that, I’m currently preparing to compete in South Africa as a guest for an international dance battle, as well as various other events in Europe, South Korea and Japan.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

To reach the top.

My goal, and the very thing that has always motivated me is to become the best version of myself in what I do. My goal right now, is to make it to the most high profile battles in the world and make an impression, not just for myself but also to put my home country, South Africa on the map. There are so many amazing dancers from there and my hope is that with making it to the top of the metaphorical mountain, I can shine a light on them.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Inspiring people.

I’ve been to countless events in multiple countries at this point, and I’m not the best dancer by any means, but I think having people come up to me, in broken English or otherwise, telling me how much they loved my dance and how much it inspired them to work harder has always been such a blessing. It also taught me that winning isn’t everything. The person that wins everything isn’t always remembered. Sometimes it’s actually the person that made you feel something. The person who’s performance made an impact within you. Sometimes that’s way more impactful than a first place trophy. I’ve had so many experiences like that and it’s helped me stay humble and grounded

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ltc_tokyo?igsh=MTF2NWd1dzNrZHV2Zw==
• Other: https://youtu.be/hph8bWHozUg?si=rcP08Mh2vXrIbMD6

  https://youtu.be/J0yn0_RC2cM?si=-68TKgkBmHKrlCHo

Image Credits

Feyi D. Aina
Skellio
Glowiie The African
Rino Honda