Originally from Vermont, Tayler first attended The Boston Conservatory for dance. She has continued to grow her artistic practice through the Bates Dance Festival for the last two decades, with Countertechnique since 2017 and through other modalities such as Graham, release technique, Alexander technique and contact improvisation focused training. Based in New York City for over a decade as a choreographer, performer, and teacher, Tayler has had the pleasure to study with Janet Panetta, David Dorfman, Joy Davis, Michael Foley, Marianne Hraibi, Kathy Young, Jennifer Archibald, Chris Aiken, Gaga teachers and many others. In 2017 she attended Gibney’s Professional Training Program for choreographic process, showing and performing in original works in the program’s initial year. While Arts on Site and Gibney are a home base, more recently she has been focused on travel to study, teach and perform. Simultaneously working towards honing her individual choreographic voice and obtaining a degree in communication and media to expand her knowledge with the evolving art world. She chose to spend time at her coastal home this summer while healing from hip surgery. Excited to create on local dancers, Tayler is always grateful to be a part of Lila Festival as it grows.
“Into contact” was created for Lila with the intention to work with local dancers and explore creating in a new way as a choreographer. The seed of the piece asks the dancers to consciously explore connection in its varying depths.
Humans are able to connect in a multitude of ways. From within ourselves, to our surrounding space, with other people and the objects in our daily lives. All of this occurs on varying levels both physically and emotionally. Each connection creates or generates a reaction. How we choose to guide those reactions or let them direct us can be both fascinating and terrifying. Connection is responsible for large scale societal movements and small scale trajectories of intimate relationships. All of which is intertwined. To explore this I asked the dancers to be present within themselves so they can be aware of each connection as they experience it.
In improvisation when we partner we move from through different depths of connection. Skin to skin, to muscle and then bone and skeletal structure. When we perform we are connected to the space around, above and below us and to those who witness our movement. These layered over each dancer’s unique internal and personal connections means that every time the piece is performed it is a different experience for all involved.