Professional dancer and choreographer. Founder of the Paul Taylor Dance Company.
Taylor's own dancing career ended abruptly in 1974, after he collapsed onstage from illness and exhaustion during a performance in Brooklyn. He continued as a choreographer until the last years of his life.
Attended Syracuse University where he studied painting and then joined the swim team, purely to gain scholarship money. In his sophomore year he left to pursue dance. He took a summer dance course with Martha Graham before transferring to Juilliard where he graduated in 1953.
In addition to Martha Graham, he studied with José Limón, Doris Humphrey, and Antony Tudor.
His dance studios had no mirrors; he felt that they fostered bad habits.