Taylor Stanley was born to a mixed-race family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and started dancing at age three. He received his training from The Rock School, Miami City Ballet summer intensives, and the School of American Ballet starting in 2008.

During his time at SAB, he performed in George Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes and was a recipient of the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise.

The following year, Stanley joined New York City Ballet as an apprentice. He became a member of the corps de ballet in 2010 and was awarded the Janice Levin Dancer Award in 2011/12. During this time, he performed the role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.

Stanley was promoted to the rank of soloist in 2013 and principal in 2016.

In 2015, Stanley started to pursue a BA through the LEAP program at St. Mary’s College of California.

He received a Bessie Award in 2019.

Stanley originated feature roles in Kyle Abraham’s The Runaway; Warren Carlyle’s Something to Dance About; Pontus Lidberg’s The Shimmering Asphalt; Lauren Lovette’s Not Our Fate and The Shaded Line; Peter Martins’ Mes Oiseaux; Justin Peck’s Belles-Lettres, Capricious Maneuvers, Everywhere We Go, In Creases, New Blood, The Most Incredible Thing (The Creator), Principia, Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes, and Scherzo Fantastique; Alexei Ratmansky’s Odessa; Myles Thatcher’s Polaris; and Peter Walker’s ten in seven. He also originated many corps roles in pieces by choreographers like Benjamin Millepied, Justin Peck, and Peter Martins.

His featured roles include those in George Balanchine’s Apollo, The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Symphony in C, and Western Symphony; August Bournonville’s Bournonville Divertissements; Peter Martins’ The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Fearful Symmetries, Romeo + Juliet, and Hallelujah Junction; Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit and The Times Are Racing; Jerome Robbins’ The Four Seasons, Moves, Interplay, The Goldberg Variations, and N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Les Carillons, Polyphonia, and Carousel.

Even as a 19-year-old apprentice, Stanley was described by Dance Spirit Magazine as having “buoyant jump, clean, crisp pirouettes and jaw-dropping extensions” and a “regal elegance.” Five years later, Pointe Magazine also lauded his “regal presence.” Fellow NYCB dancer Erica Pereira noted that Stanley’s partnering is exceptional, and choreographer Justin Peck described Stanley as “the most accurate interpreter of my movement style.”