User:Chocmilk03/Lynn Gilbert-Smith

Lynn Gilbert-Smith was a New Zealand dancer and dance teacher.

Gilbert-Smith established her first dance studio, the Lynn Gilbert Dance Studio (later LGS Dance), at the age of 16 in 1970, starting with about 12 students. She was a committee member of the New Plymouth Competitions Society for thirty years. In 1987 she established the Gilbert-Smith Trust to support dance education. She also worked as a choreographer for the New Plymouth Operatic Society. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, dancers from her studio won national titles.

In 1990 she and two others founded a Taranaki cheerleading squad, which performed at a number of Taranaki sporting events until 1997 including the Taranaki rugby team's 1996 win over Auckland in the Ranfurly Shield competition.

Gilbert-Smith was awarded the Queen's Service Medal in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to dance education. At the time, her studio had about 280 students, including some second generation students, and specialised in classical ballet, contemporary, jazz and musical theatre.