MS. CHARLENE “CHI-CHI” SMITH

Favorite Dance Style: All of them!

Favorite Dance Step: 2-step or Triple step

Favorite Broadway Show: Fela!

Just after graduating from Rutgers University, Chi-Chi took off into the entertainment industry. Since her professional debut in 2005, she has worked with many of the industry’s top choreographers such as Hi Hat, Fatima Robinson, Rich and Tone, Jamaica Craft, Nu Stylz, Wayne Cilento, Buddha Stretch, and many more. Chi-Chi has traveled the world and made countless television appearances and live performances alongside the world’s top artists: Missy Elliot, LL Cool J, Janelle Monae, Salt n Pepa, Shakira, Snoop Dogg, Kelly Rowland, Diddy, Mary J. Blige and Gloria Gaynor (yes, the one and only). Throughout the years, she has maintained a steady stream of featured and leading roles in national network commercials as a dancer, as an actor, and also as choreographer. Most of those commercials represented National and International brands such as: Playtex Bras, Verizon Fios, Nair, Wendy’s, Honey Nut Cheerios, Crest, Apple, Lee Jeans, Stride Gum, American Airlines featuring Kevin Spacey and Lysol anti-bacterial detergent featuring Alyson Stoner (2020).

Her choreography credits include a segment in the 2019 Video Music Awards, Honey Nut Cheerios dancing moms and dads, Comcast/Xfinity: “Beautifully Bilingual”, Nickelodeon Halo Awards 2016-2017, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Bacardi and most recently (and of upmost significance): a PSA on Post-Partum Depression: "Mom Genes Fight PPD".

Chi-Chi made her Broadway debut at The Palace Theater in 2014 in “Holler if ya Hear Me” using the music and poetry of Tupac Shakur, directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon; choreographed by Tony winner Wayne Cilento. Although short-lived, the return to theatre, after years of on-camera work, reminded her of how much she loved to combine singing, dancing and acting. As a teaching artist, Chi-Chi is an adjunct associate professor at Pace University and on faculty for the Apollo Theater Education Program. She enjoys delving deep into “Groove Theory” as she titles her hip hop foundation classes. The focus of her classes, everywhere she teaches, is keeping the groove in the dance.