MTI Concert Dance Announces Licensing of Choreographic Works by Lynne Taylor-Corbett
MTI Concert Dance, a division of Music Theatre International, announced today that the company has entered an agreement to exclusively license a series of works created by renowned choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett to professional companies, the third choreographer’s works to be included in the MTI catalogue. The works of José Limón joined the catalogue in the fall of 2025, and more than 60 ballets and theatre dance works by Jerome Robbins were the first choreographic works to be licensed by MTI Concert Dance in September, 2024.
MTI Concert Dance aspires to license choreographed works from well-known creators across many genres of dance. Launched in March 2024, MTI Concert Dance helps sustain and grow the legacy of choreographers, their works, and the transcendent power of dance for future generations of dance artists and audiences. Led by dancer, choreographer, and educator Elizabeth Parkinson, MTI Concert Dance is the first organization of its kind to work directly with choreographers and dance companies to license copyrighted works to organizations around the world. As a result, the choreographer’s legacy and brand are completely supported, developed, and protected.
Lynne Taylor-Corbett works licensed by MTI include: Diary; Spy; Flowers for Departed; Children; Kinetics; Street Music; Other Selves; Hide and Seek; Appearances; Tunes; Escape; Sonata for Cocktail Piano; Les Chaises Musicales; Sequels; Great Galloping Gottschalk; Estuary; Go Said Max; Tunes; Case Closed; Ordinary Rhythms; Surfacing; In a Word, aka Play on Words; Mercury; Surfacing II; Chiaroscuro; Ballad of You and Me; The Quilt; Triptych; The Twelve Dancing Princesses; The Locket; More Than a Song; December Songs; Cabaret at Café Marovicci; Carmina Burana; Play on Words, aka In a Word 7; Great Scott; The Ugly Duckling; Prayers from the Edge; Lost and Found; Carolina Jamboree; Love Speaks; Anything is Everything; Blown Away; Code of Silence; Nine by Twelve; Dracula; Picnic on the Frass; Seven Deadly Sins; The Little Mermaid; Hibari; Day at the Beach (Bolero); Hindsight; individual numbers from Swing! on Broadway
"It gives me the most confidence and fulfillment to know my mother Lynne's works will be preserved and protected by MTI Concert Dance”, said Shaun Taylor-Corbett. “My mother's spirit lives on in her works, which not only transformed the world of ballet but represent a crucial bridge between the classical artform and our audiences and young dancers seeking to master their technique and find their own expression and voice. Lynne's choreography gives freedom to the artist to expand their technical ability as well as their emotional life as an actor. She wanted to affect the audience, and in so doing affect the dancers performing her work. She also cared deeply about the world and our collective humanity and that is very present when you see her ballets. Thank you MTI and Elizabeth Parkinson for taking such care of her legacy and for continuing to bring her works to the world!"
“We are honored to begin licensing the works of Lynne Taylor Corbett, a choreographer who moved effortlessly between film, Broadway stages, and concert dance,” said Elizabeth Parkinson. “I still recall the first time I encountered her work in Great Galloping Gottschalk, at American Ballet Theatre. This ballet, as well as the outstanding performances of Susan Jaffe, Robert LaFosse, Gil Boggs, and Johan Renvall, still resonates deeply in my memory. Alongside Jerome Robbins and José Limón, bringing Ms. Taylor Corbett’s work into our catalogue continues the artistic vision of Concert Dance at Music Theatre International and ensures that audiences around the world will continue to experience this work that is rigorous, entertaining, and profoundly moving.”
Additional information about MTI Concert Dance can be found here .
Lynne Taylor-Corbett was a prolific creator in dance working in the fields of theatre, film, and concert dance. She was nominated for Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award for Swing! on Broadway and received Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations for My Vaudeville Man and Wanda's World. Off-Broadway she directed and choreographed Cougar the Musical, KICK! and When it Happens to You, and adapted and directed the Hong Kong production of Disney’s The Lion King . Her choreography can be seen in the feature films Footloose, My Blue Heaven, and Bewitched.
Ms. Taylor-Corbett’s concert dance works have been commissioned by New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Carolina Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, among others. Presented by companies throughout the world, her works have been seen on Live from Lincoln Center, Live from the San Francisco Opera House and on UNC-TV.
Lynne Taylor-Corbett with her son Shaun Taylor-Corbett created the musical Distant Thunder and in 2022 presented the musical at The First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. Produced by the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, a state that is the end of the Trail of Tears and home to 39 tribes, the musical won multiple Broadway World awards including best director and best original musical. Distant Thunder was co-produced by Amas Musical Theatre and Tall Tree Productions Off-Broadway in 2024 and Lynne was awarded the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography. Phoenix Theatre Company will produce the show in their 27/28 season and the full album will be released at the end of 2026. distantthunderthemusical.com
Ms. Taylor-Corbett was a member of the Society for Directors and Choreographers, and on the Counsel of Advisors for the Association on American Indian Affairs.
Photo credit: Andrea Mohin/The New York Times/Redux
