Taylor Stanley

Last updated

Taylor Stanley
Born (1991-05-30) May 30, 1991 (age 33)
Education School of American Ballet
OccupationBallet dancer
Years active2009–present
Career
Current group New York City Ballet

Taylor G. Stanley [1] (born May 30, 1991) [2] is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.

Contents

Early life

Stanley was born in Philadelphia [3] to a mixed-race family, [4] and was raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania. [5] At age three, they started learning ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop at The Rock School for Dance Education. Initially they thought they would pursue a career in commercial dance, but their parents and teachers encouraged them to focus on ballet. At age 15, Stanley attended a summer course at the Miami City Ballet School. Two years later, Stanley attended a summer intensive at the School of American Ballet in New York City, then was asked there and to train full time for a year. [6] [7] At the workshop performance of SAB, they performed George Balanchine's Stars and Stripes . [2] They also received the Mae L. Wien Awards for Outstanding Promise that year. [8]

Career

Stanley became an apprentice at the New York City Ballet in 2009, and joined the corps de ballet the following year. While they were still in the corps, they danced Romeo in Romeo and Juliet . [6] Stanley received the Janice Levin Dancer Award in 2011–12, which is given to promising corps dancers of NYCB. [6] [9] They were promoted to soloist in 2013 and principal dancer in 2016. They had dance lead roles in George Balanchine's and Jerome Robbins' works. [6] [10] For their debut in the title role of Apollo , Stanley was coached by Craig Hall, the first African-American dancer in the company to dance that role. [7] They had also originated roles under choreographers such as Justin Peck, Lauren Lovette and Kyle Abraham. [6] [11] [12] In 2019, Stanley won a Bessie Awards for Abraham's The Runaway . [13]

Outside of New York City Ballet, Stanley danced with their colleague Troy Schumacher's side project, BalletCollective. They also took classes at Nederlands Dans Theater and studied Gaga at Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv. [6] [7] Stanley has also worked with an array of choreographers including Jodi Melnick, Andrea Miller, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Liz Gerring, Pam Tanowitz, Kim Brandstrup, Christopher Williams, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Reiner, Shamel Pitts, and Omar Roman de Jesus.

Personal life

Stanley is openly gay [11] and uses they/them pronouns. [14]

As of 2015, Stanley is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree through St. Mary's College of California's LEAP program. [6]

Selected repertoire

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Ballet</span> American ballet company

New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946.

Peter Boal is artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and director of its affiliated school in Seattle, Washington. He was born in Bedford, New York, in 1965 and began studies at the School of American Ballet (SAB) at age nine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Whelan</span> American ballet dancer (born 1967)

Wendy Whelan is an American ballet dancer. She was principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and performed with the company for 30 years, and toured in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Whelan has also been an influential guest artist with Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. In 2019, Whelan was named Associate Artistic Director of New York City Ballet.

Jennie Renee Somogyi is an American former ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 1993, at age 15, became a principal dancer in 2000, and retired in 2015.

Janie Taylor is an American ballet dancer, répétiteur and costume designer. She joined New York City Ballet in 1998, was promoted to principal dancer in 2005 and left in 2014. She then started designing costumes and staging works by Justin Peck and Benjamin Millepied, before performing again as a member of the L.A. Dance Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Mearns</span> American ballet dancer

Sara Ann Mearns is an American ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at New York City Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teresa Reichlen</span> American ballet dancer

Teresa Reichlen is an American ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2001, was promoted to principal dancer in 2009, and retired in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley Bouder</span> American ballet dancer

Ashley Bouder is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet. She also founded and currently runs her own project, The Ashley Bouder Project.

Gonzalo Garcia is a Spanish American ballet dancer. He joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1998, and was promoted to principal in 2002, at age 22. In 2007, he left the company and joined the New York City Ballet. He retired from performing in 2022 and remains in the company as a repertory director.

Jonathan Stafford is an American ballet dancer and artistic director. He danced with the New York City Ballet (NYCB) as a principal dancer until his retirement in 2014, then he served as a ballet master. He became the artistic director of NYCB in 2019.

Craig Hall is an American ballet dancer. He danced with the New York City Ballet as a soloist until 2016 then became a repertory director, and was one of the company interim leaders between late 2017 and early 2019.

Carla Körbes is a Brazilian ballet dancer who performed as a principal dancer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, then became the associate artistic director of L.A Dance Project. She is now an associate professor at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music's ballet faculty.

Peter Walker is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) in 2012 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2022. He choreographed Ten in Seven (2016) and Dance Odyssey (2018) for NYCB, as well as the 2020 film I'm Thinking of Ending Things.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauren Lovette</span> American ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1991)

Lauren Lovette is an American ballet dancer and choreographer who was previously a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.

Georgina Pazcoguin is an American ballerina. She was a soloist with the New York City Ballet, and is known for challenging racism in ballet, and for performing on Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unity Phelan</span> American ballet dancer

Unity Sickles Phelan is an American ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2013 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2021. Outside of the company, she had also danced in films John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and I'm Thinking of Ending Things.

Indiana Woodward is a French ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2012, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2021.

Mira Nadon is an American ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2018, and in 2023, she was promoted to principal dancer, as the first Asian American woman to hold this position.

Roman Mejia is an American ballet dancer. He joined the New York City Ballet in 2017, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2023.

References

  1. "@taylor.g.stanley on Instagram". Instagram . Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Prince Charming: Taylor Stanley". Dance Spirit. September 1, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Taylor Stanley". New York City Ballet. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  4. Harss, Marina (June 17, 2019). "Why We Can't Take Our Eyes Off of Taylor Stanley". Dance Magazine . Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  5. "5W: Taylor Stanley". The Saratogian . July 14, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schaefer, Brian (August 3, 2015). "Moving Muse: Taylor Stanley Comes Into His Own at New York City Ballet". Pointe Magazine.
  7. 1 2 3 Kourlas, Gia (January 17, 2019). "A Ballet Hamlet Becomes a God (Apollo, That Is)". New York Times.
  8. 1 2 "The Mae L. Wien Awards". School of American Ballet. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  9. 1 2 "Levin Award". New York City Ballet. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  10. Loeffler-Gladstone, Nicole (May 18, 2016). "Taylor Stanley Is a Principal!". Dance Spirit.
  11. 1 2 Kourlas, Gia (October 10, 2017). "When Two Men Fall in Love on the Ballet Stage, and Why It Matters". New York Times.
  12. Barber, Elizabeth (October 1, 2018). "Crunch Time for Kyle Abraham at the New York City Ballet". New Yorker.
  13. 1 2 "Recipients of 2019 Bessie Awards Announced". Artforum . October 15, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  14. "Meet Our Dancers: Taylor Stanley". NYCB . Retrieved January 1, 2023.