Ja’ Malik

Executive Artistic Director, Interim Executive Director

Ja’ Malik is an accomplished choreographer, artistic director, educator, and former professional dancer whose career spans more than 25 years. As Artistic Director of Madison Ballet, he brings a distinctive vision rooted in artistic excellence, innovation, inclusion, and the continued evolution of ballet.

A former member of Oakland Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, BalletX, Ballet Hispanico, Cleveland Ballet, and North Carolina Dance Theatre, Ja’ Malik has performed works by some of the most influential choreographers of his generation. His professional training includes the Joffrey Ballet School, and he earned his BFA from The New School in New York City.

Since becoming Artistic Director of Madison Ballet in 2022, Ja’ Malik has guided the company through a period of artistic growth and transformation, expanding its repertoire, developing new audiences, championing diverse choreographic voices, and strengthening connections between the company, its school, and the Madison community. His leadership is grounded in the belief that ballet can honor its classical traditions while creating space for new perspectives, contemporary storytelling, and artists from a wide range of backgrounds.

As a choreographer, Ja’ Malik creates work that explores the relationship between classical technique and contemporary movement. His choreography is recognized for its musicality, physicality, emotional depth, and willingness to challenge traditional expectations of ballet. His work with Madison Ballet has included world premieres and new interpretations of classical and contemporary repertoire, including works created in collaboration with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

Ja’ Malik is particularly committed to developing new voices in dance and creating meaningful opportunities for emerging artists. His artistic leadership embraces inclusion, diversity, equity, access, and belonging as essential components of a thriving arts organization, not simply as ideals, but as practices that shape the artists onstage, the stories being told, and the communities being served.

Through his work as an artist and leader, Ja’ Malik continues to position Madison Ballet as a company that respects where ballet has been while boldly imagining where it can go next.