Janie Taylor (born ) is an American ballet dancer, ''

répétiteur A (from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. A feminine form, , also appears but is comparatively rare. Opera In opera, a is the perso ...

'' and costume designer. She joined

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

in 1998, was promoted to principal dancer in 2005 and left in 2014. She then started designing costumes and staging works by

Justin Peck Justin Peck (born September 8, 1987) is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the instituti ...

and

Benjamin Millepied Benjamin Millepied (; born 10 June 1977) is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has also ...

, before performing again as a member of the L.A. Dance Project.

Early life and training

Taylor was born in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, and started ballet at age 2. She moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

with her family when she was 12. In 1995, Taylor entered the School of American Ballet in New York, and dance lead roles at the school annual workshop during her last two years of training, before graduating in 1998. She received the Mae L. Wien Award the same year.

Dance career

In 1998, Taylor became an apprentice with the

, and was taken to the ''

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French for "body of the ballet") is the group of dancers who are not principal dancers or soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and often work as a backdrop for the principal dancers. ...

'' a month later. The following year, at age 18, she danced the principal role in George Balanchine's '' La Valse''. She was promoted to soloist in 2001 and principal dancer in 2005. She had dance lead roles by Balanchine and

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

, and had created roles for

and

. In March 2014, at age 33, Taylor and Sébastien Marcovici, her husband and a fellow principal dancer, both departed New York City Ballet following a performance of ''La Valse'' and Robbins' '' Afternoon of a Faun''. The program was not chosen by them though the two believed it was suitable for their farewell. She had stated she decided to leave because Marcovici was retiring from performing and the two agreed that it would be best for both of them. In 2014, after Taylor left New York City Ballet, she moved to Los Angeles as Marcovici joined Millepied's company, the L.A. Dance Project, as a ballet master. Later that year, the couple moved to Paris when Marcovici became a ballet master with the

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

, at the time directed by Millepied. During the two years Taylor lived in Paris, she staged works by Peck and Millepied for ballet companies in Europe and the U.S at the choreographers' request. Taylor returned to Los Angeles after Millepied left the Paris Opera Ballet, and she joined the L.A. Dance Project as a dancer. She made her choreographic debut in 2019, in a piece titled ''Adagio in B Minor''.

Other ventures

Taylor had appeared in the 2000 film '' Center Stage'' as a background dancer, and served as a motion capture dancer for '' Barbie of Swan Lake''. While in the New York City Ballet, she often wears leotards she made. In 2014, she designed the costumes for Peck's ''Everywhere We Go'', which was also her first job since she announced her departure from the New York City Ballet. She later designed the costumes for Christopher Wheeldon's ''American Rhapsody'' and Joshua Beamish's ''Surface Properties'', which are danced by New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre respectively.

Personal life

In 2004, Taylor was diagnosed with

immune thrombocytopenic purpura Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), also known as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura or immune thrombocytopenia, is a type of thrombocytopenic purpura defined as an isolated low platelet count with a normal bone marrow in the absence of othe ...

, a rare autoimmune disorder, and had her spleen removed the following year. Taylor married fellow principal dancer Sébastien Marcovici in 2012.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Janie Living people Entertainers from Houston 1980s births American ballerinas New York City Ballet principal dancers School of American Ballet alumni Mae L. Wien Award recipients Prima ballerinas 21st-century American ballet dancers Dancers from Texas American expatriates in France 21st-century American women