By Steve Sucato for Point Magazine +
Madison Ballet’s long-term goal of becoming a full-time professional ballet company finally came to fruition in 2022 with the hiring of new artistic director Ja’ Malik. Founded in 1981 as Wisconsin Dance Ensemble to produce an annual Nutcracker production, the organization’s fortunes had waxed and waned over its four decades. A turning point came in 1999 with the arrival of previous artistic director William Earle Smith, a name change to Madison Ballet, and a plan to become a professional arts organization.
Under Smith, the company did professionalize and in 2005 opened The School of Madison Ballet. The dancers’ contracts were sporadic, though, “almost like a pickup company,” says Michaela King, who has danced with Madison Ballet for seven years. “It was much smaller, our contracts were shorter, and we brought in a lot of seasonal guest dancers.”
Since Ja’ Malik came on board, the organization has taken steps to become a full-time repertory company with full-time dancers, without the need to fill out its ranks with guest artists. “I saw an organization with so much possibility and no direction,” he says. “I knew I could help guide it and build it into something special.”
Ja’ Malik says the company was financially solid when he took over, allowing him to focus on rebuilding audience and school numbers lost during the pandemic. His other main area of focus was creating a company identity.
“I wasn’t interested in looking to its past for one,” says Ja’ Malik. “I wanted to develop a new identity going forward.”
artsair.art 