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Artistic Directors
PAT TAYLOR Choreographer
"The melding of heritages and cultural influences that defines America is the same dynamic that feeds my work and inspires
me to explore the collage nature of jazz music through dance."
Pat Taylor received her early dance training in Los Angeles and completed her dance studies at UCLA in
1982. Following her studies as a Merit Scholarship student at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York, Ms. Taylor
spent six years teaching, performing and choreographing in Sweden, Finland, Germany and England.
It was while in Europe that she became fully conscious of America's jazz legacy and it's influence around
the world. In 1992 she returned to Los Angeles and established The Dance Collective in Leimert Park, a cooperative dance
studio and home to JazzAntiqua Dance & Music Ensemble.
Ms. Taylor is Dance Department Chairperson at Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica. She has served
on grant panels for Nevada State Council on the Arts, California Arts Council and the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.
She has been nominated for two Lester Horton Dance Awards and
noted by The Los Angeles Times for "outstanding choreographic achievement." She is a Brody Arts Fund Choreography
Fellowship recipient.
Taylor imaginatively mixed African and modern dance influences, allowing for an exquisitely modulated performance. - Los Angeles
Times
MARCUS SHELBY Composer
"I seek to further the tradition of jazz music by embracing its rich history, by building on the ground work laid by
the masters such as Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk, and by exploring creative ways to expose and preserve
this great American art form."
Marcus Shelby is an award winning composer, arranger, educator and bassist working and residing in the
San Francisco Bay Area. He studied under James Newton and Charlie Haden and his credits include original scoring for film,
theater and dance as well as jazz composition for his own groups, the 15-piece Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, the Marcus Shelby
Trio and the Marcus Shelby Septet.
He is nationally recognized for his innovative and collaborative approach to composing and arranging for text, the visual
arts, dance and theater.
Mr. Shelby founded the popular jazz quintet BLACK/NOTE, an ensemble widely acknowledged as trailblazers among the rising
number of young neo-classic jazz musicians in the 1990's. He has performed throughout
the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada and Mexico. He has worked with legendary jazz artists Billy Higgins, Eddie Harris,
Joe Henderson, Pharaoh Sanders, Billy Childs and Roland Hanna, among many others.
In addition to composing and performing, Mr. Shelby is on the faculty at San Francisco State University and Berkeley University
in the Young Musicians Program.
www.marcusshelby.com
... Shelby embodies the modern jazz musician: young, educated, articulate, and serious about the music and life. - Buzz Magazine
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