Celebrating 25 years of teaching ballet in Durango!

Having spent the past forty years training young ballet students for their future goals in dance, Frances Rosser Taylor has seen many of them go on to careers in performing, teaching, choreography, and many dance related fields. Her students have performed with companies such as Boston Ballet, Boulder Ballet, David Taylor Ballet, Cherry Hill Ballet, State Street Ballet, Disney, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and many others. Many of her students have gone on to further study at highly respected college and college preparatory dance programs such as Skidmore, University of Utah, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Walnut Hill School, Interlochen, Idyllwild and many others. Many of them have received high honors at regional competitions throughout both the Northeast and the Southwest.

Ms. Taylor has been teaching ballet in Durango since 1999. She is currently the Artistic Director of the Durango Youth Ballet. Before coming to Colorado, "Miss Frances" was the founder and Director of two dance studios in New Hampshire as well as the Founder and Artistic Director of the Dance Workshop of Southern New Hampshire, a young person's performing group that performed throughout the region. Her choreography has been honored by the Granite State Ballet in New Hamphshire as well as at regional conventions throughout the Southwest. She has also taught for a number of college dance programs.

Ms. Taylor began her training in California as a child and continued her studies in New England where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the Boston Conservatory. Her performing credits include the Boston Dance Theater, Ballet Artes Dance Ensemble, Tucson Civic Ballet and others, along with numerous musical theater credits. She also earned a Master of Education in Cognitive Development with particular emphasis on the study of the relationship of movement education with the development of cognitive skills. As a teacher, Ms. Taylor emphasizes the importance of developing a strong and correct technical basis upon which further training can expand. Her specialty is working with individuals to find proper body placement in order to prevent injury while developing artistic lines.