In this episode of At the Barre, we are joined by Endalyn Taylor Outlaw, Dean of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and guest choreographer for Madison Ballet’s ChoreographHER.

Endalyn shares her journey from a creative childhood in Chicago to an acclaimed career with Dance Theatre of Harlem and on Broadway, to her evolution into a choreographer and educator.

This conversation centers on her work It’s the Thing with Feathers. Inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem Hope is the Thing with Feathers, the piece explores the varied ways hope can show up in our lives, with movement functioning almost as its own character. Set to a dynamic score by Nils Frahm, the piece reflects Endalyn’s interest in blending classical and contemporary vocabularies while creating an expressive, human-centered experience.

Throughout the episode, Endalyn also shares her perspective on the role of academia in the dance world, as both a space for experimentation and a bridge to the professional sphere.

About Endalyn Taylor Outlaw

Dancer, choreographer, and educator Endalyn T. Outlaw (née Taylor) is the dean of the School of Dance at UNCSA. She has held the positions of director of Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) School in New York — a company she joined in 1984, becoming a principal dancer in 1993 — and director of the Cambridge Summer Art Institute in Massachusetts. Her extensive administrative, artistic and academic career is steeped in ballet pedagogy and she has created an eclectic body of choreographic works.

Outlaw excels at restaging ballets, having performed many of the classics and having worked with luminaries in the field including DTH founder Arthur Mitchell, British-American ballet dancer and choreographer Frederick Franklin, director and choreographer of LINES Ballet Alonzo King, American dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille, and director and choreographer of Garth Fagan Dance and “The Lion King,” Garth Fagan. She has performed on Broadway and stages all over the world, including as an original cast member of Tony Award-winning Broadway productions of “The Lion King,” “Aida,” and “Carousel.”

See “It’s the Thing with Feathers” by Endalyn LIVE in ChoreograpHER April 3-5, 2026

🎟️ madisonballet.org/choreographer

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Credits

COVER PHOTO: Matthew Ulrich

DANCER: Madison Ballet Company Artist Lauren Thompson

MUSIC: Capet String Quartet - Ravel (Col. D 15057-60) 1928