David Taylor has been professionally involved in the Colorado dance community for the past forty-nine years. During the course of a twelve-year dance career, he began choreographing in 1976, and since then has created over 100 original works. In 1979, he founded the David Taylor Dance Theatre, which for thirty-two years was recognized as one of the Rocky Mountain region’s most acclaimed dance organizations, and Denver’s original contemporary ballet company. Mr. Taylor has received three National Endowment for the Arts grant awards along with the City and County of Denver’s first Individual Artist Fellowship award for dance, and in March of 1997, he and his company were proud recipients of the State of Colorado’s Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. He has been commissioned to create ballets for Opera Colorado, the Colorado Symphony, the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Museum of Outdoor Arts and the Up Close and Musical Ensemble, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Colorado Wind Ensemble, and for the Dayton Ballet in Ohio. He has also staged works for the Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet, the Lone Star Ballet of Amarillo, Texas and for the Canyon Concert Ballet in Fort Collins and his original and innovative productions of “The Nutcracker” and “Rainforest” garnered national critical recognition and for twenty years, were booked extensively across the United States. Mr. Taylor has additionally served as a Board member for the Mayor’s Commission on Cultural Affairs, as the Vice President for the Colorado Dance Alliance, as a peer panel member for the Colorado Council on the Arts, and in 2008, he received the Carson-Brierly Dance Library’s prestigious “Living Legends of Dance” Award.
Currently, Mr. Taylor serves as the Artistic Director and upper level ballet program faculty member for Denver Ballet Theatre. He also continues to be in demand as a guest master class teacher in ballet technique, pas de deux, pointe, variations and dance history for numerous ballet schools, companies and summer programs throughout the state and through his extensive background in metaphysical studies, sacred dance and ritual he also continues to conduct sacred dance lectures and workshops for many statewide and national organizations. Mr. Taylor founded the Zikr Dance Ensemble in 2009.The company employs some of the finest ballet-trained dancers from numerous companies along Colorado’s front range and has to date, presented numerous successful performances to consistent critical acclaim and standing ovations in Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder, Carbondale, Crested Butte, Pagosa Springs, Leadville, Ouray, Ridgway, Niwot, Salida, Alamosa, Parker, and Grand Junction, CO and in St. Paul, MN and Long Beach, CA.
Currently, Mr. Taylor serves as the Artistic Director and upper level ballet program faculty member for Denver Ballet Theatre. He also continues to be in demand as a guest master class teacher in ballet technique, pas de deux, pointe, variations and dance history for numerous ballet schools, companies and summer programs throughout the state and through his extensive background in metaphysical studies, sacred dance and ritual he also continues to conduct sacred dance lectures and workshops for many statewide and national organizations. Mr. Taylor founded the Zikr Dance Ensemble in 2009.The company employs some of the finest ballet-trained dancers from numerous companies along Colorado’s front range and has to date, presented numerous successful performances to consistent critical acclaim and standing ovations in Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder, Carbondale, Crested Butte, Pagosa Springs, Leadville, Ouray, Ridgway, Niwot, Salida, Alamosa, Parker, and Grand Junction, CO and in St. Paul, MN and Long Beach, CA.