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about
AmSAT
Alexander Technique Certified
Yoga Alliance
Kunga Yoga Certified
Virginia Tech
Post-MFA in Applied Performance
University of Georgia
MFA in Acting
University of Mississippi
BFA in Theatre Performance
Theatre
Theatre
Taylor loves live performance. While pursuing a BFA and MFA in Acting, she fell even deeper in love with actor training methods and consciousness exploration. Studio work, collaboration, and philosophical discussion invigorates and adds many dimensions to Taylor’s performance work.
Taylor trained in the work of FM Alexander, Sanford Meisner, Jerzy Grotowski, Michael Chekhov, Rudolf Laban, Kristin Linklater, and Susana Bloch. She generates creative material primarily with these methods, as further influenced by Viewpoints, Shakespeare, commedia dell'arte, improv, clown, and more. Taylor’s stage work runs deep. In addition to years training in pursuit of degrees, she played many roles on stage and won various awards in speech and debate over 8 years—4 years on scholarship with the Ole Miss Forensics Team. She draws inspiration from many sources, weaving with what best inspires the moment.
Tamora in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
Class picture from Foundations of Acting for Majors
Taylor taught acting and collaboration at Virginia Tech, and many levels of acting at the University of Georgia. She worked annual contracts as theatre faculty with Radford University Governor's school, and served as a high-performance public speaking coach for the annual Speaker's Edge Tournament at Ole Miss. Taylor's favorite curriculum involves embodying imagination, building character, improvising, developing relationships, and deepening communication.
Before working in higher education, she worked as a touring theatre performer, director, writer and teacher.
Taylor enjoys being in charge of a rehearsal space. Over years of emotional education and experimentation, she has grown adept at sensing emotional charge and reading the dynamics of a room. When given free reign to create new work, she turns to what the cast longs to authentically communicate. Taylor has crafted her own directorial process by leading exercises in authentic expression, drafting a script from rehearsal content, and leading the cast to polished, one-of-a-kind productions. More traditional directing also proves extremely rewarding. Find more information about each of Taylor's directing projects in her portfolio.
Behind the scenes of the devised theater piece, Glue
Harriet Creighton in In McClintock's Corn by Carolyn Gage
Taylor's most recent project was originating the role of Harriet Creighton in the 2023 world premiere of Carolyn Gage's new play, In McClintock's Corn. The play recently won a Creative Loafing Drama Duo Award. Read more about the show on Carolyn Gage's website or Powerstories' website.
Alexander
The Alexander Technique
Taylor offers hands-on guidance to address issues of posture, performance, pain, and movement fluidity.
Originally drawn to the work of FM Alexander to increase performance quality, Taylor began the 1600-hour AmSAT training program in Chicago to find maximum freedom from tension on stage and in gymnastics. After only a short time, Taylor noticed her clients not only became better performers, but improved their overall quality of life. As the strain on the body melts away, something else comes online: an enlivened, renewable wellspring of vitality.
Taylor received the opportunity to complete her certification in New York City with Ann Rodiger at the Balance Arts Center. As there are various approaches to the Alexander Technique (AT), this blended training background provides Taylor with a unique perspective on the work.
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AT leads to embodied mindfulness, heightened self-awareness, and psycho-physical freedom. The key to happiness is holistic—simultaneously physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. By approaching the body as an interdependent system inside a dynamic environment, another level of individual power comes online​. To embody the full extent of your power is to feel the current of potential inside and around you.
The Alexander Technique proves highly effective as individual lessons. The future of health and wellness lies in personalized care, as seen in the meteoric rise of Precision Medicine. The more a teacher understands your personal habitual patterns, the quicker it becomes to discover a more efficient way of navigating life.
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Group classes provide value in a different way, as you explore movement potential and unlock harmful patterns in community.​ Taylor offers both individual and group options, both in-person and online. ​
Alexander Technique Congress 2022 in Berlin, Germany
The Art of Running workshop with Malcolm Balk
AT can be applied to many areas of life:
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how to succeed in performance situations
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how to get better at any sport
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how to relieve chronic pain and some illnesses
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how to recover from injury
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how to move with purpose and efficiency
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how to find grace under pressure
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how to communicate effectively
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​how to better manage anxiety and depression
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how to improve skills and hobbies
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how to become mindful and self-aware
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how to live a long, vital life inside of yourself
The New York Times highlighted an endorsement of AT in July 2023:
Movement
Gymnastics & Yoga
Taylor discovered the fascinating world of gymnastics at age 3. She loved practicing in the gym and on the furniture at home. After 10 years as a competitive level 4—level 9 gymnast, the sport shaped and influenced many things about her life.
Handstands remain Taylor's main joy. To be upside down is to see things in a different way. Discovering and playing with balance is a path to mediate extremes, open the mind to new possibilities, and explore physical potential.
Taylor currently practices gymnastics weekly at New Era Gymnastics Center. Tumbling and vaulting feels particularly exhilarating to Taylor because she finds it relates to many of life's mysteries:
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To lean in to the moment, and just go
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To put aside overthinking
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To follow the trajectory of momentum
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To trust the body's memory
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To root in the self
A Round-Off Backhandspring at New Era Gymnastics
October 2024
Sunset yoga at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, TN (with pups!)
Taylor's background in gymnastics and theatre provide a nice foundation for yoga practice. Taylor holds a Yoga Alliance Teacher Certification, completed while working for Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. The area of specialty is called Kunga Yoga, which is not a specific style of yoga, but a mission of service supported by InBalance Yoga Studio. Read more about Kunga Yoga on their website. Taylor also completed a supplemental yin yoga teacher training.
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