PAT TAYLOR
Founding artistic director-choreographer Pat Taylor grew up in a household where jazz served as the musical backdrop to daily life. Yet it was while she was living, teaching and choreographing throughout Europe for seven years, experiencing first hand the world's love and respect for our jazz tradition, that she made her personal commitment to a rooted exploration of jazz language through movement.
She is the recipient of several recognitions including a Brody Arts Fund Choreography Fellowship; project grant awards from Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Francis E. Williams Artists Grant, and the Center for Cultural Innovation; and a finalist award for the Leo's Choreography Competition / Jazz Dance World Congress.
Her passion for jazz dance education, preservation and creation takes her across the United States and internationally as a master teacher and guest lecturer. A frequent artist in residence, Pat has created work for Rhythmically Spekaing Dance, Irvine Valley College, Peabody Conservatory/Johns Hopkins University. Meadows School of the Arts/Southern Methodist University, Pasadena College, Salve Regina University, University of Idaho and the International Congress of Jazz Dance.
She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts (jazz aesthetics emphasis) from Goddard College, and is a faculty member at California State University, Long Beach. She is honored to be a contributing author for Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century (University Press of Florida, 2022).