After 12 years as dance coordinator at Prairie View A&M University Danyale Taylor is stepping down.
“I’m leaving because I’m getting married and moving to Missouri. While that makes me happy, I’m very sad to be stepping down. It’s very bittersweet because I love my job and I will miss my students,” said Taylor.
She served as artistic and executive director of the Classic Dance Ensemble for 12 years, and directed the Black Foxes for a year.
Under her direction, Classic Dance Ensemble has had the honor of performing at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in 2002 and 2004. Classic Dance Ensemble has also performed in Georgia, Virginia, Florida, and New York.
Taylor began her dance career at the age of three. She studied ballet, tap, and gymnastics and later included modern, jazz, Pointe, and other cultural styles. At the age of 15, she began dancing professionally at Six Flags Astroworld, in her native city Houston.
Taylor has studied with many great companies including Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, and Ririe Woodbury in Salt Lake City. Taylor also had the distinct privilege to perform at New York City’s Florence Gould Hall for Awareness of Rape and Incest through Art.
In 2007, Taylor had the honor of being elected to the position of 1st Vice-President of the Black College Dance Exchange, where she sits on the Board of Directors. BCDE is a coalition of dance companies from historically black colleges and universities. In May 2012, she was inducted as national president.
Although freshman theater major and Classic Dance Ensemble member Jeremiah Gray is sad that Taylor is leaving the university he still hopes she continues to be a great instructor at her next post.
“It’s a disappointment that she is leaving, but at the same time it’s a blessing. She sowed her seed at PV and it’s time for her to do that at another university,” said Gray. “Ms. Danyale has a quality that no else has. Everyone loves her. She not only encourages me to be a better dancer but also a better student and man.”
Taylor wants students to know that dance is not only movements to music, but also a form of art and a lot of work goes into it.
Taylor hopes her successor would continue to develop the program further and even help establish dance as a major or minor.
“I want very much for it to be a dance minor here since there is no dance minors at historically black colleges. At HBCU’s the focus is more on hip-hop dancing so I really tried to push classical dance here and I feel people were really accepting of it,” said Taylor.