Rita Jones Taylor, has a BFA in performance and choreography and a BA in Psychology, graduate studies in clinical couselling, and has been a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director for the past 25 years. With a diverse background in the performing arts and over 60 productions in classical ballet and musical theater, she is a respected member of the arts community. She has developed dance education programs for Guilford, Davidson, Forsyth, and Randolph counties with study guides and culminating performances. Rita has also developed a performing arts workshop for middle and high school students.
Gary Taylor, Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer
Gary Taylor is recognized throughout the southeast for his mastery of innovative choreography, partnering, instruction and performance. A graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, he was a two year recipient of the Nancy Reynolds scholarship. He has been a professional dancer working throughout the Southeast for past two decades before retiring from performance in 1997. He is an award-winning choreographer and teacher with recognition for his work in Broadway style, and contemporary jazz and tap works as well. In 1999, Gary was awarded the Regional Dance America Choreographic Award, for his work, “Dreams.” The North Carolina School of the Arts honored him as the Outstanding North Carolina Teacher in Performing Arts also in 1999. He was asked to perform in Lisbon, Portugal in June 2004, with his piece Steel Dream. At S.E.R.B.A. 2004, Gary's ballet “Temptation” received national recognition and was awarded the prestigious Regional Dance America Choreographic Commission Award. His ballet, “Last Breath”, that was performed at the Benedum Theatre in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania at the National R.D.A. festival, was featured in the February 2008 edition of Pointe Magazine.
Gary has choreographed original works for Gwinnett Dance Ensemble, Gainesville Ballet, Huntsville Ballet, Roswell Dance Theatre, Southern Ballet Theatre, Southeast Alabama Dance Company, Sandhills Ballet Theatre, High Point Ballet, and Moore OnStage. While his versatility has led him to choreograph such musicals as Man of La Moncha, Secret Garden, Children of Eden, Peter Pan, How to Succeed in Business, The King & I, The Robber Bride Groom, Oklahoma, 42nd Street, A Christmas Carol, Love's Labors Lost, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Gary has served on faculty for the following organizations: 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 and has even conducted Master Classes for Cirque du Soleil's world renowned cast of the touring show "Delirium".
He is presently the Artistic Director and Resident choreographer for the High Point Ballet, Taylor Dance and Moore OnStage. His most recent endeavor is the development of Winston Salem Festival Ballet, a professional performance-based company which will premiere in July 2009.
Megan Brinkley Bodsford
Over the past 26 years, Megan's extensive training has included Ballet/Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Gymnastics/Acrobatics and Musical Theatre. Megan began training at the Palm Beach Ballet Conservatory in West Palm Beach, Florida at age 3. At age 11 she was chosen to perform in Ballet Florida's Annual Nutcracker performances. The following year she was accepted to Palm Beach County School of the Arts, currently renamed Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, where she became the subject of a 1992 televised documentary on dance education. In 1994 her dance training brought her to North Carolina where she attended North Carolina School of the Arts majoring in ballet. She spent her summers training with the Houston Ballet, Nashville Ballet and other professional companies. After graduating in 1998, Megan toured schools around North Carolina educating children on the art of dance. Since 1999 she began the most rewarding part of her dance career, teaching. Her teaching experience ranges from preschool age children through high school students and beyond.
Kassandra Taylor
Kassandra Taylor graduated cum laude with a BFA degree in Dance from Point Park University, where she attended on an academic, community service, and dance scholarship. During those years, she received Outstanding Sophomore, Junior, and Senior scholarships awarded by the Dance Faculty and performed principle and soloist roles in several productions and concerts. She was awarded with "Most Outstanding Dance Senior in the Dance Department", Who's Who Among Students for Point Park, as well as "Most Outstanding Senior" given by the University at graduation. She has had 2 works selected to be performed for the American College Dance Festival (Regional and National) as well as 6 works adjudicated and selected for Southeastern Regional Dance America (RDA)-(4 Gala Credit, 1 Performing Credit, 1 Emerging Credit) awarding her with the Monticello Choreography Award. Since graduation she was given the National Choreographic Recognition Award at the National RDA conference in 2007 and moved to San Francisco to join the trainee ensemble with Alonzo King's LINES Contemporary Ballet. At the 2008 RDA festival she was awarded with the National Commissioning Award-Project Tier Choreographer. She last performed in Berkshire, Massachusetts with the Berkshire Opera and was ballet mistress and educational director for the Salt Lake Ballet Conservatory in Utah. She recently received "Outstanding Choreographer" from Youth American Grand Prix 2009 where 5 pieces of her choreography were chosen for the top 12 to attend the National Finals in New York City. Ms. Taylor most recently won the National Commissioning Award-Project Tier Choreographer 2009 and attended Craft of Choreography in Seattle, Washington on scholarship. She has performed and choreographed for works across the United States and in Austria, Germany, and Italy. Ms. Taylor has danced professionally with Dance Theatre of Pittsburgh as well as Pillow Project Dance Theatre.
Chelii Broussard
Chelii is a graduate of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro with a degree in Communication Studies. She is the founder and resident choreographer of the 102 Jamz Dance Team. The Team is comprised of dancers who demonstrate skills in b-boys and b-girls, crumpers and pop-lockers. She is the hip-hop teacher and choreographer for the High Point Ballet and The Dance Hall. She loves the concept of training ballerinas and contemporary dancers to transform their movement to a hip-hop style. Chelii has performed as a back-up dancer for the world renowned reggae artist Sean Paul. She participates in the 102 Jamz, Super Jamz each summer along with Nas, Lil Lil Kim, Omarion, Elephant Man and many others.
Sedrick Gillespie
Sedrick began his dance training with the High Point Ballet in High Point, North Carolina. He has performed with the company for ten years, while studying under Gary Taylor, Rita Taylor, Stephen Stone, Toni Noblitt and a host of other distinguished dancers and choreographers. He has also studied tap with Gene Medler, founder of the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble. While attending the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Sedrick was privileged to train under such renowned faculty members as Susan McCullough, Warren Conover, Gyula Pandi, Melissa Hayden, Fanchon Cordell, Melinda Lawrence, Frank Smith, Nina Danilova, Kiwan Han, Trish Casey, Diane Markham and Brenda Daniels. He has participated in the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association Festival nine times, the National Regional Dance America Festival in Pittsburgh, PA in 2007 and was awarded a full scholarship to the RDA Craft of Choreography in Seattle, Washington. Sedrick's performance experience includes roles in The Nutcracker at UNCSA for three years, the UNCSA Festival of Dance from 2002-2007, and ten years of season performances of The Nutcracker with the High Point Ballet, where he filled such roles as Snow King, Thorn, Russian and Spanish. His diversity as a dancer has garnered him roles in High Point Ballet's productions of Celtic Legends, Jazz, An Evening of Romance, On Broadway and many others. Sedrick is also currently an instructor with the High Point Ballet School of Dance where he teaches classes in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, and Contemporary Technique.
Blair Morris
Blair began her dance training with the High Point Ballet School of Dance in High Point, NC at the age of thirteen, and performed with High Point Ballet as a member for the next six years. She danced a variety of roles in High Point Ballet's annual production of The Nutcracker including Snow Queen, Columbina, Harlequin, Oriental, Russian, Spanish and Mirliton, and also portrayed the role of Alice in their production of Alice in Wonderland. She performed in High Point Ballet's spring performances of Salute To Broadway, Causing a Commotion, Cirque du Ballet, In Concert and Cirque 2002. In 1998, Blair attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she was privileged to study under former members of the American Ballet Theatre, the Hungarian National Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. She continued her schooling at UNCSA from where she majored in contemporary dance. While there, she received instruction from Alwin Nikolais, Murray Lewis, Merce Cunningham, Pauline Koner and members of the Jose Limon Dance Company. Blair performed at the North Carolina Festival of Dance for six years and the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association festival for five years. She studied with Doug Varone and Dancers, a modern dance company located in New York City. Blair received her BA degree in Communications from UNCG and has taught classes for the High Point Ballet in ballet, pointe, partnering, modern and jazz.
Paige Morgan-Foy, Administration
Paige has been involved in theater and dance since high school and has made it part of her working life. While living in Sanford, NC, she worked for Lee County Parks and Recreation, where she was instrumental in re-establishing the adult and children's theater program. Having received her NC State Childcare Credentials, she works with the pre-school aged children and coaches the older dancers and actors on character rolls. In her “spare time,” Paige gets involved with costume creation and performs many character roles herself, such as Peter Pan.
Photos courtesy of Susan Fox, Keith Lewis, and Studio 104.