Artistic/Personal Statement

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L. Taylor Ashton recently received her BFA in Dance Performance from Kent State University in May of 2017. Ashton is currently a student at Hollins University where she is working to receive her Master of Fine Arts in Dance. During her tenure at KSU, Ashton was a member of The Kent Dance Ensemble, the university’s pre-professional dance company where she had the opportunity to work with Kent State faculty members as well as guest artists. In 2014, she represented Kent in the American College Dance Association gala concert. L. Taylor premiered her choreography, Severed Roots, in the 2016 Student Dance Festival Concert. Ashton served as the President of the Student Dance Education Organization-Kent State Chapter and was an active member of Kent State’s Theatre and Dance honors Fraternity Alpha Psi Omega-Beta Psi Cast. Currently, Ashton is an active member of the National Dance Education Organization. L. Taylor is also a founding member of East Meets West, an international dance collaboration program that allows Kent State Dance Students the opportunity to teach and study Thai classical dance as well as other forms at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in Bangkok, Thailand. L. Taylor considers herself to be an activist for cultural dance forms. She values the importance of educating students on the integration of such dance forms in religion and everyday life.