Taylor Dance, the only pre-professional and non-profit dance studio in the Sandhills, announces exciting changes as it becomes part of newly founded Gary Taylor Performing Arts.
Gary Taylor Performing Arts, operating in new and expanded studio space, will offer dance instruction through Taylor Dance, musical theater training with their Broadway Bound Program, youth theatre opportunities with Imagine Youth Theater, and serve as the Sandhills home to the Winston-Salem Festival Ballet.
Taylor Dance, now part of Gary Taylor Performing Arts, wraps up its 2017 season on May 20 with Cirque: Urban Odyssey, a dance explosion of movement, lights, and energy, performed by its pre-professional students and featuring professional dancers from Winston-Salem Festival Ballet.
The just launched Gary Taylor Performing Arts offers comprehensive training and performance opportunities. Dance students will find both classically-based recreational and pre-professional instruction through Taylor Dance, the training school for the Winston-Salem Festival Ballet.
Julie Cox-Taylor, Ryan Taylor, Rachael Dean
Theatre students can perform in shows with Imagine Youth Theater, or, for a deeper dive, enroll in Broadway Bound for acting, dance, and singing instruction combined with performance opportunities. All programs will exist under one roof in a new, airy studio, allowing students to cross-enroll or specialize to best reflect their skills and interests.
Gary and Rita Taylor have been bringing original dance works to the local area for over twenty years and to the state of North Carolina for over thirty years. As the directors of Winston-Salem Festival Ballet, High Point Ballet, Taylor Dance, the Play House, and Imagine Youth Theater, their students have had the opportunity to perform throughout the state with some of the most talented dancers and actors in North Carolina. Gary Taylor Performing Arts is designed to encompass all the elements required to understand both the art and the business management of dance, theatre, and performance.
Following Taylor Dance’s Cirque: Urban Odyssey on May 20th, Gary Taylor Performing Arts will move to temporary summer studios at the National Athletic Village (NAV) in Southern Pines. There Taylor Dance will offer its Summer Intensive dance training from June 18 to July 13, and dance camps June 25-28 (ages 4 to 7) and August 6-9 (ages 5-10).
Nicholas Franco, Alexis York, Lauren Melia, Brooke Beckwith, Skylar Fielder-Jones, Sarah Costanza, Mary Costanza, Rachael Dean, Annabelle Black, Juliette Neveu, Christa Blades
Additionally, Imagine Youth Theater will hold its summer workshop & performance: Getting to Know Rogers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma (auditions May 22 & 23).
In the fall, Gary Taylor Performing Arts will move to its permanent home at Central Park South on Olmsted Boulevard in Pinehurst.
Says Ms. Taylor: “This is a community that is so appreciative of high-caliber, professional dance and theater performances. As Gary Taylor Performing Arts, we have the unique ability to deliver that to local audiences, while using our presence across North Carolina to offer our students an incredible depth of dance and theater opportunities.”
For enrollment or information, contact Rita Taylor at 910-695-1320, or [email protected].
Feature photo: Nicholas Franco and Mary Costanza.
Contributed article & Photo credit: Gary Taylor Photography.
