ROBERT TAYLOR JR - Guest teacher
Robert Taylor Jr. is an American entertainer whose goal is to inspire and spread love and peace to people of all ages through music and dance. Robert was born in Brooklyn and raised in Coney Island and developed a love for music and dance as a young child through his father Robert “Bobby T-Boy” Taylor and went under his tutilage for his music/artistry. He then became under tutilage of Elizabeth Buzzetta Palmeri and Pat Conlon to continue his musical training, Larry Ramsey for his acting, and John Goring for his dancing. He graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a B.A. in Dance and a minor in Musical Theatre. While at Marymount, he studied the Graham, Horton, and Limon techinques, as well as acting, theater, and other styles of dance. He also performed in several musicals, including New Girl In Town and The Boyfriend.
Later, Robert went on to study with teachers such as Brian Green, The Amountboyz (who he performed with as an honorary member), Jared Grimes, Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie, Eric Jenkins, Jamie Jackson,Future, Eric Negron, and Spex. Robert performed for Michael Jackson, in 2002 with a singing/dancing group called ‘Uneti.”
In the underground music world, Robert has won multiple music showcases, including (2006-present) “Faces In The Crowd” (twice), (2006-2009) “Mental Supreme” (2007) and “Roc The Mic” hosted by Monse from hot 97 (2009), making him a 5 time NYC underground music industry showcase winner as an R & B entertainer.
Robert has performed for Michael Jackson in 2002 for the Sony Protest party @ Webster Hall. Shortly after, Robert was selected as one of the nation’s top 20 contestants for Season 8 of So You Think You Can Dance, and made it to the top 16. Other credits include American Idol (Season 3), So You Think You Can Dance (Season 2), MTV’s ‘Say What? Karaoke (in which he won 2 shows and made it to the finals in 2003 and 2007), Kat Deluna’s Whine Up music video, and the national tour of Hairspray as a singer/dancer/actor in 2008, danced for L.L. Cool J at Carnegie Hall for the CBS Network Rundown (choreographed by Gio Hubela from Iconic). He also performed with Rihanna as a recording artist/entertainer for the Peace and Love festival in Sweden in 2012. Robert recently performed in Rihanna’s Budweiser commercial with fellow faculty member Anthony Rue II aka AntBoogie. In the summer of 2015, he was a part of America’s Got Talent as a finalist with The Mothmen.
Robert’s most recent accolade was being in the original cast of Spongebob Squarepants (the Broadway Musical) which is currently streaming on Amazon.