Artist Profile: Gary Taylor

“Blind Date.” Photo by Gary Taylor

Gary Taylor, founder and Artistic Director of Winston Salem Festival Ballet, will be touring Blind Date, “a quirky pas de deux”  in the 2012-2013 North Carolina Dance Festival.

“Blind Date.” Photo by Gary Taylor.

Originally part of the evening-length dance “Metropolis,” this duet is set to “Thrash,” by Erick Schwartz, composer and Artistic Director of Forecast Music, an experimental music group based in Winston Salem, North Carolina.

After graduating from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Gary Taylor performed as a professional dancer throughout the southeast until retiring from performance in 2006. Gary then concentrated on choreography and teaching, earning many awards such as the Regional Dance America (RDA) National Choreographic Award in 1999 and 2006 and  the prestigious RDA Choreographic Commission Award in 2004.  The North Carolina School of the Arts honored him as the Outstanding North Carolina Teacher in Performing Arts from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1999 and the High Point Area Arts Council presented him with the Mayor’s Teacher Support of the Arts Award in 2007.

Gary Taylor

A versatile choreographer, Gary has created works for both ballets and musicals. He has served as faculty at many dance institutions including: North Carolina Dance Alliance, Lecon de la Danse, Tennessee Association of Dance, North Carolina School of the Arts, Dance Masters of America, and High Point University Fine Arts Center and Performing Arts Department. Gary has even taught Master Classes for the cast of Cirque du Soleil’s Delirium.  He is currently on faculty with Festival Dance Center, the home of the Winston-Salem Festival Ballet.

“Blind Date” hits the NCDF stage in Boone on Oct 27, Greensboro on November 2, Wilmington January 12, and Charlotte on January 25.

Up next on the blog: meet the local artists selected to perform alongside the NCDF Touring artists in Boone and Greensboro.