Who Is Ashur Ronan Taylor? The 14-Year-Old Dancer Is About to Break Out

On Monday, December 16 on NBC, Derek and Julianne Hough's Christmas special Holidays with the Houghs will air at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The special includes incredible special guests like Kelly Clarkson, Ne-Yo, Ciara, and, of course, it will be filled to the brim with fun, engaging sketches and performances by professional dance siblings extraordinaire, Derek and Julianne Hough. 

But even though all those celebrities will be featured, the breakout star of Holiday with the Houghs is none other than a young dancer named Ashur Ronan Taylor. 

Ashur is not quite 14 years old, which already makes him more successful than the vast majority of us. According to Heavy, he hails from Carlsbad, California, a suburb of San Diego. His father, Scott Taylor, owns a publishing company called Art of the Genre.

And Ashur has already made a name for himself in dance. He was named one of the Top Three Junior Male Dancers of the Year at the 2019 Dance Awards, and he was named National Junior Male Maximum Velocity Artist of the Year for 2017. Let me remind you that this kid can't even drive yet!

He can often be seen dancing with Chloe Lucas and Gianna Mojonnier and attends Danceology Performing Arts Studio in San Diego for his dance education. Ashur also appeared in a music video for the band Half the Animal. He's been slowly gaining traction as a dancer over the years, and all that hard work has paid off. 

It's safe to say this star-studded Christmas special is Ashur's big break. He is truly a presence on screen and so fun to watch!

Ashur has just over 1,000 followers on Instagram, where he posts videos of himself dancing. He also uses the platform to talk about the fact that "#boysdancetoo." I'm positive he's inspiring other kids out there who want to dance to try it out, and I imagine his social media following will explode in popularity sometimes soon. 

But for all his dancing talent, that's not the only area where he is totally kicking butt. According to Heavy, Ashur was honored earlier this year at a luncheon for U.S. military engineers because he has his science partner Tom innovated an award-winning science project. According to Scott's Instagram, they made "a device that identifies and alarm triggers for different species entering a control area." That seems...really complicated and impressive. 

It truly seems like Ashur Ronan Taylor is about to be a household name. Between the dancing on network television and the world-changing science project, I can tell that this kid is going places. One final reminder that he's not even 14 years old yet! It is really cool that Derek and Julianne Hough gave this kid a chance to show off his skills during their holiday special. 

Make sure you don't miss Holidays with the Houghs on NBC on December 16!