Company Dancer
Native to Eugene, Oregon, A(laj)a Badalich (she/they) trained at Oregon Ballet Academy and University of North Carolina School of the Art’s modern high school program. In 2018, she began her dance studies in San Francisco at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program under the direction of Karah Abiog. In their two years at the program, the youngest in their class, they worked in intimate choreographic processes with Carmen Rozesstraten, Kara Davis, Christian Burns, Alex Ketley, Eric Wagner, Roderick George, Robert Moses Kin, and FlOCK ( Alice Klock and Florian Lochner). She is a two time national medalist for the NAACP ‘s ACT-SO, and has attended summer programs, such as: Texas Ballet Theater, Ballet West, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, De Dutch Don’t Dance, and AXIS dance on full scholarship.
In the past two years, Laj has resided in her hometown as a choreographer for flex Studios, XCAPE dance academy, Eugene Ballet Academy, and the youngest co-founder of seven to form Fermata Ballet Collective. The Collective is a place for dance artists in the Pacific Northwest who have found their careers and projects on hold due to pandemic. Fermata aims to offer opportunities for dance artists in a respectful and safe environment. Laj has choreographed for competitive soloists, training program works, public school programs, and Coalesce virtual dance collective in Chicago. She placed in the top three with two of her works in SALT”s 2020 Choreography Festival “SHAPE”, attended the HAVEN choreographic mentorship under the direction of Alex Ketley and David Maurice, was a selected choreographer for Alluvion’s 2021 Dance Chicago Virtual Choreographic Festival “emergence”. Most recently, they have attended Ballare Carmel workshop under Lillan Barbeito and Ihasan Rustem, and danced for FLOCK’s last digital film “Interrelated Reflections”. After leaving suddenly due to the pandemic, Laj is excited to return home to the Bay Area and begin her journey with AXIS.