Taylor Peyton has been teaching dance at VAAS since the school opened in 2011.  She has built a strong dance program that teaches over 100 students in several levels and styles of dance.  Ms. Peyton also coaches the Spirit Squad, a group of dancers and cheerleaders that perform for school events and weekend competitions. 

 

Ms. Peyton believes that all students should have access to a quality arts program and feels grateful to have the opportunity to share her passion for dance with so many students at VAAS.  The VAAS Dance Program's curriculum teaches students many genres including; classical ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, musical theater, social dances, cultural and world dances, composition, choreography, and production topics such as costumes and lighting.  Dancers also learn dance history and analysis and have several opportunities to watch professional dance companies. 

 

The VAAS Dance Program partners with the Soraya at CSUN's campus and is frequently invited to performances, work shops, and master classes hosted by international dance companies.  Dance & Dialogue is also a community partner that VAAS dancers collaborate with to encourage compassion and unity across the Los Angeles community through the art of dance. 

 

Taylor Peyton began dancing when she was 3 years old at "And All That Jazz" a private dance studio in San Diego.  She continued to be on the cheer and dance team of her high school in San Diego before moving to Los Angeles to attend undergrad at UCLA.  She earned a bachelors in geography and environmental studies and began working for LAUSD in 2003 as a biology teacher.  She started coaching the cheer team and from that began developing a dance program before attending NYU for graduate school in Dance Education and ballet pedagogy at ABT.  Ms. Peyton was also a guest lecturer at LMU teaching Dance Pedagogy to dance majors, preparing them to one day teach K-12 dance.