CARLSBAD, Calif. _ Last month, 13-year-old dancer Ashur Taylor was introduced to millions of TV viewers when he accompanied "Dancing with the Stars" cast member Derek Hough in a gravity-defying number where they danced together in their PJs on the walls and ceiling of a room.
The appearance on NBC's "Holiday with the Houghs" special was Ashur's first major TV appearance, but it's unlikely to be his last. Since he started hip-hop lessons at age 4, the Carlsbad eighth-grader has gradually risen to the top of the junior dance community. In 2017, he was named National Junior Male Maximum Velocity Artist of the Year and last year he was named one of the top three Junior male dancers at the 2019 Dance Awards. He was also featured last year in a dance-filled music video for the band Hi Lo.
Ashur admits it's a juggling act balancing four to six hours of dance lessons and practice a day with school and personal time. But he has no regrets. Dancing, he says, is what he was born to do.
"As long as I can remember, I loved to move. Even in the grocery store I'd be jamming out in the aisles to whatever music came on and I'd make up my own steps," he said. "What I love about dancing is the feeling of release in the movement. I have no worries. I can just let everything go and trust myself."
Ashur's dance specialties are hip-hop, industry, musical theater and tap. He also trains in ballet to improve his technique. He is known for his fluidity of movement. But there was a time in his life when Ashur's parents wondered if their son would ever be able to walk. Ashur Ronan Taylor is the only child of Scott and Portia Taylor, who met while studying humanities at Indiana University and moved to Southern California in 2009.
Portia Taylor said her son survived an extremely difficult emergency Caesarean birth that seemed to cause some delays in his speech and motor skills development. He crawled on his knees rather than walked and preferred using a form of sign language over speaking.
"We really didn't know if he was going to be OK for the first three years of his life," she said. "But he was just very patient. When he started talking, he became extremely verbal and he went straight from crawling to running."
As a toddler, Ashur enjoyed moving to music, but in that first dance class at age 4, he was instantly hooked. It was a surprise to his parents, who have no dance background. Portia sells pharmaceuticals and Scott is a writer who runs his own fantasy/game fiction publishing house, Art of the Genre. In addition to dance, the couple signed their young son up for art classes, swimming and soccer. But it was dance that would become Ashur's sole focus around the age of 7. By age 9, he was designing his own choreography.
"His passion for dance was there from day one and his sense of musicality was obvious. The skill and technique has been a ton of work, but it's so easy to be his mom. He's intrinsically motivated and he's a very driven and competitive kid," Portia said.
Ashur now trains at Niki Lucia's Danceology studio in the Rancho Bernardo/4S Ranch area. His main teacher is Nick Meola. After Ashur finishes classes at The Rhoades School in Encinitas, one of his parents drives him to Danceology, where he'll often train and practice until 9:30 p.m. on weeknights. To get specialized training, he travels to dance conventions 10 or so weekends each year, where he'll dance up to 16 hours over two days.
He loves conventions because it gives him the chance to meet and learn from some of his favorite choreographers, including: Travis Wall, Dee Caspary, Will Loftis, Jaci Royle and the duo of Randi and Hef. Some of these choreographers have taken a shine to Ashur and helped him land professional gigs.
Last year, a choreographer recommended him for the job of appearing in Hi Lo's "Half the Animal" music video. He played a younger version of the L.A. pop-rock band's lead singer Chase Johnson and performed with a team of dancers in a two-day outdoor shoot in the high desert town of Littlerock, Ca. Another recommendation from "Dancing with the Stars" choreographer Ashley Costa got him the job dancing on the TV special with Hough.
Filming the sequence, inspired by the 1951 Fred Astaire film "Royal Wedding," involved working inside a five-sided bedroom-like set on a rotating gimble that was photographed with a stationary video camera. Ashur said it was thrilling to work with Hough on the sequence, which was rehearsed and filmed over a four-day period in November.
When Ashur isn't dancing or making up choreography to songs ranging from Imagine Dragons to Fleetwood Mac, he enjoys reading, science and hanging out with his school buddies. "At the studio I'm always around girls," he said, "so it's nice to have my bro time with my friends."
He says he's too young to decide if he'll perform one day on shows like "So You Think You Can Dance?" or "Dancing with the Stars," but he expects he will always enjoy any opportunity to perform in front of an audience.
"When I'm onstage," he said, "I just tune everything out and focus on that moment."
