Ellen Rosa-Taylor is currently the Chair of the Dance Department at Idyllwild Arts Academy. Originally from Wilmington, DE, Ms. Rosa-Taylor studied with James Jamieson and Victor Wesley of the Academy of Dance. She received her Bachelor of Science in Ballet with an Outside Field in Kinesiology from Indiana University, Bloomington. While there, Miss Rosa trained with Patricia McBride, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Jacque Cesbron, and Violette Verdy. Ms. Rosa-Taylor received her MFA in Dance from Florida State University where she was the recipient of a Deans Teaching Fellowship for the School of Visual Arts and Dance as well as a University Fellowship. Ms. Rosa-Taylor also received additional training at Pennsylvania Ballet and Boston Ballet summer programs where she was on scholarship.

Ellen has performed as a ballerina with the Los Angeles Opera, as a solo dancer with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center and has performed as a dancer with the San Diego Opera. As a concert dancer, Ms. Rosa-Taylor has performed with City Ballet of Los Angeles, La Danserie, Louise Reichlin and Dancers, Charleston Ballet Theater, the Russian Ballet Theater of Delaware and Chattanooga Ballet, where she also served on the board of directors of the Tennessee Association of Dance. Ms. Rosa-Taylor was also featured as the Bluebird in Disney’s Snow White, an Enchanting Musical at Disneyland.

As a choreographer Ms. Rosa-Taylor was selected to create the piece Weavings for the Contemporary Music Symposium in Chattanooga, TN. She was also a finalist in the Dance Under the Stars festival in Palm Desert, CA and was invited to perform Last Dance in the Arabesque Dance festival held in Wilmington, DE. Ms. Rosa-Taylor was commissioned by Media City Ballet to choreograph the education show, The Four Musicians and she was one of 3 choreographers to present her work for the City Ballet of Los Angeles’ performance at the Ford Amphitheater in Los Angeles. Lewis Segal of the LA Times has called her style… “a unique jazz ballet style.”

As a dance educator, Ms. Rosa-Taylor is currently an American Ballet Theater National Training Curriculum Certified Teacher for levels Pre-Primary to level 7 and has received the distinction of ABT NTC Fellow by successfully presenting her students for the ABT Ballet exams since 2010. Ellen teaches all ages and levels of ballet, pointe, variations, pas de deux, dance conditioning, yoga and contemporary. Additionally, Ellen has been a judge at various dance competitions and events since 2022.