In this episode Denise sits down with dancer Malik Q. Williams.  They discuss how he started dancing, the support of his family and the experience of not feeling valued at Juilliard.  Learn about Mark’s  journey and how his Juilliard experience motivated him to excel.  Malik is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was awarded the Lynn Swann Scholarship to attend the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre during the 2006-2007 season. He graduated from the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida, as a dance major in 2013, where he worked with Troy Powell, Christopher L. Huggins, Billy Bell, and Margo Sappington. He then went on to The Juilliard School, where he graduated with a B.F.A. in 2017 under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes. At Juilliard, he worked with the choreographers Takehiro Ueyama, Loni Landon, Zvi Gotheiner, Matthew Neenan, and Gentian Doda. He has performed works by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, and Nacho Duato. Since graduating, Williams has danced with the Limón Dance Company, National Dance Company of Wales, and Lydia Johnson Dance. During this time, he has performed works by José Limón, Caroline Finn, Yin Yue, Caitlin Javech, and Lydia Johnson, among many others. He joined the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) as an apprentice in 2020 and became a company member in 2021.

What You Will Hear

• Being a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group
• Malik’s motivation to study at Juilliard as a college freshman
• Training the body and mind to prepare for longevity  
• Reflecting back on training from high school 
• Educational and diversity expectations of Juilliard
• Unpacking institutional racism in a technical constitution
• Coping with systemic racism post-graduation

Quotes

• “You only fail if you don’t try.”
• “This has to mean something. Me getting into this school has to mean something.”
• “You should take a chance. You should go into the unknown.”
• “I didn’t realize that being a black dancer changed my experience so much until it was too late and it already changed.”
• “I had something to prove and live up to.”
• “There’s these external pressures because of my environment, because of the people around me. It’s almost as if I have to take on the burden because I’m Black.”
• “The manifestation of the toxicity that started to brew within myself came as an accumulation of the things that were said to me throughout all four years.”

Mentioned

• Mark Morris Dance Group
• Alvin Ailey Dance Company