ABOUT ME | Sarah Taylor: Dance

MEET SARAH TAYLOR

Sarah Taylor hails from Portland, Oregon where she began her ballet training under the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus and passed every major examination with distinction. She performed with companies such as Ballet Concerto, Lake Erie Ballet, Northwest Dance Theatre, and SoMar Dance Works. She graduated with honors from Mercyhurst University with a B.F.A. degree in dance where she was granted both dance and academic scholarships. She has been highlighted in certain roles such as the second violin in Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, a principle solo in Dennis Spaight’s Gloria, the Arabian soloist, Merliton, and Waltz of the Flowers Demi-soloist in The Nutcracker and several roles in newly choreographed classical and contemporary works. During the summers, Sarah attended intensives at Oregon Ballet Theatre and American Ballet Theatre and was a semi-finalist at the Genée International Ballet competition in Antwerp, Belgium. Sarah aspires to perform in contemporary and classical styles as well as continue honing her own choreography.

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EXPERIENCE

Ballet Concerto Margo Dean, Artisitc Director, Webster Dean, Associate Artistic Director

Lake Erie Ballet Lesley Borise-Scalise, Artistic Director

Northwest Dance Theatre June Taylor-Dixon, Gretta Marchek, Co-Artistic Directors

SoMar Dance Works Mark and Solveig Santillano, Co-artistic directors

The Mercyhurst Dancers C. Noelle Partusch, Artistic Director

REPETOIRE

Classical and Neoclassical: Concerto Barocco (2nd Violin), The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Giselle, La Bayadère, Les Sylphide, Raymonda, Sleeping Beauty, Symphonie Italienne

Modern and Contemporary Choreography: Ricardo Amarante, Dennis Spaight, Solveig Santillano, Mark Santillano, Les Watanabe, Maria Caruso, Ruben Gerding, Laura Haney, Thorey Mountain, Elize Lavallee, Marleigh Bristol, Lacey Gigliotti

TRAINING

Mercyhurst University, Northwest Dance Theatre, June Taylor’s School of Dance

Ballet/Pointe/Pas de deux Tauna Hunter, Michael Glison, C. Noelle Partusch, Lesley Borise-Scalise, June Taylor-Dixon, Gretta Marchek, Cameron Smith

Modern Les Watanabe, Laura Haney, Cameron Smith, Mark Santillano, Solveig Santillano, Shantelle Jackson

Jazz Thorey Mountain, Laura Haney, Mark Santillano, Cameron Smith, Nathanial Johnson, Trevor Sones

Royal Academy of Dance Intermediate Foundation – Advanced 2 Exams completed with Distinction

Grade Exams completed with Distinction

Genée 2014 International Competition Semi-Finalist

Other Luis Montero (Classical Spanish) Mark Santillano (Tap)

SUMMER INTENSIVES/WORKSHOPS/RESIDENCIES

Genée International Ballet Competition, Mercyhurst University, American Ballet Theatre, Oregon Ballet Theatre, ACDA Conference, June Taylor’s School of Dance, Sultanov Russian Ballet Academy

Ballet/Pointe/Pas de deux Julie Kent, Petal Miller Ashmole, Hilary Clark, Wes Chapmen, Roger Van Fleteren, Elizabeth Ferrel, Julie Bickerton Bravata, Nilas Martins, Ask La Cour, Kee Juan Han, Ricardo Amarante, Joseph Morrisey, Sascha Radetsky, Meg Paul, Elizabeth Corbitt, Natasha Bar, Lisa Sundstrom, Laura Alonso, Alison Roper, Chauncey Parsons, Hannah Baumgarten, Diego Salterini, David Curwen

Modern/Contemporary Matt Kent, Renée Jaworski, Richard Chen See, Les Watanabe, Laura Haney, Christopher K. Morgan, Millicent Johnnie, Ray T Tadio, Sara Parker, Alice Howes, Ursula Payne, Tommy Parlon

RELATED EXPERIENCE

ABT Summer Intensive (TX) Residential Mentor

Chehalem Valley Dance Academy Ballet Instructor, co-casting director, Ages beginning through advanced

Innovative Dance Ballet Instructor, Ages beginning through advanced

ABDA Ballet, Contemporary, Conditioning Instructor, ages advanced

Mercyhurst University B.F.A. in Dance, minor in Nutrition, Dance Merit and Academic scholarships, 3.9 GPA, Honor’s Program, Phi Eta Sigma

Jesuit High School Chamber Choir

References available by request.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

As a dance educator, I strive to be a leader of the next generation of dancers. I work to foster a love and dedication for the arts as well as a strong work ethic that can support every aspect of life, and ultimately lead to the development of well rounded individuals.

I believe that in order to establish a strong dedication and a passionate work ethic in my students, I must first make my expectations clear. I believe that students work best under a strict and competitive environment along with encouragement and congeniality. Under these circumstances, a student can set their expectations high for themselves while staying optimistic throughout their training.

I place emphasis on positive reinforcement and working with the student as a team. Through dance, I cultivate independent thinking as well as a strong ability for collaboration. I believe that collaboratively helping the student allows the student to gain their own voice through discourse and conversation. Through having a conversation with a student, the solutions are no longer a one sided answer, but instead formulated with the direct input from the individual. Through using positive enforcement, the student responds with confidence and with the desire to attack different challenging steps. By having positivity in the back of their mind, the student responds more accurately to corrections due to the encouragement given to them.

In the classroom, I help my students independently approach problems. As artists, we are often faced with issues that necessitate a unique approach to them. By providing a challenging class, either technically, mentally, or both— my students develop the ability to problem solve. I strive to develop creative and challenging exercises that foster students’ innovation and desire to personally contribute to the dance world.

My training and performance experience is broad. Having been trained in the Royal Academy of Dance examinations, Balanchine and Bournonville styles, I want to familiarize my students with the successes and drawbacks of different styles. I believe that through becoming well versed in a variety of styles, students become well rounded dancers, ultimately making them more competitive in the field, and leading to greater chances at succeeding in the dance field by strengthening different parts of their technique.

In the studio, I maintain high energy and enthusiasm and give constructive corrections to every student. I believe attention should be equally spread throughout the classroom to allow for equal amounts of improvement and growth. The most success in students comes from having a love of dance first. I balance fun and humor along with respect and competitiveness in order to create a positive working environment. When giving corrections, repetition paralleled with the use of different imageries and words allows the student to constantly think of improving their technique. Most importantly, a positive environment mixed with constructive criticism establishes the best fusion for the students’ improvement.

As a teacher, I work to establish an appreciation and love of dance in my students that can be shared within the community. Its important to me that my students understand the importance of dance within society and grow to support the arts as they become the next generation of contributors. I foster this support through exposing different aspects of arts and culture in the classroom. I believe it is my duty as an educator to provide students with a love of the field in order to support the continuing growth and support of dance in the world.