Biography
STEFANIE TAKEI-TAYLOR
ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/REHEARSAL DIRECTOR OF BARBADOS DANCE PROJECT
Stefanie Takei-Taylor is a dance professional and creative entrepreneur. Born in Pasadena, California where she trained at Pasadena Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, and Austin Ballet. She was a semi-finalist in the Los Angeles Music Center “Spotlight Awards” and went on to received a BFA in dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts as a Trustee Scholar under the direction of Linda Tarnay. She later received a Masters in Tourism Marketing from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus. Stefanie has worked with choreographers Laurence Blake, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Doug Nielsen, Stephen Petronio, T. Lang, Brook Notary, Kyle Abraham, and Johannes Wieland before moving to Barbados. She is a founding member of Diesel Fusion Dance Theatre with Ihaia Miller and currently teaches at all the major dance academies, at Barbados Community College and UWI Cave Hill Campus and performs with many of them as requested. She had the honor to represent BDP at the Coco Dance Festival in Trinidad and at Jamaica Dance Umbrella the past few years dancing works created by Jamal Callender, Nigel Campbell, and Tara-Jane Herbert. She most recently represented herself at JDU in March 2020 performing the solo Strange Fruit (1943) choreographed by Pearl Primus and restaged by Mary Waithe. An experienced social media marketing consultant and director at Barbados Dance Project since April 2017, Takei-Taylor has taken a hands-on approach to the development of professional dance in Barbados sharing her knowledge and passion with the Barbadian dance community.