Denise continues her discussion with Malik Williams.  Hear more about how Malike 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

• Malik’s epiphany to embrace himself in his artform
• Processing how to build yourself back up 
• Gaining Black alumni mentors for guidance
• Transitioning from Juilliard to Mark Morris Dance Company
• Malik’s apprenticeship with the Límon Dance Company
• Working for Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes

Quotes

• “I will never be any other person but myself.”
• “You are enough. You have always been enough. And you always will be enough.”
• “As long as your doing your best, that’s all you can ask for. If they’re asking for more, that’s their problem, not yours.”
• “We are still having this conversation and we will have it until we level the playing field, until you can see our bodies and our voices and embrace them with love and respect in an effort to decolonize art and the Eurocentric paradigm of what art is.”
• “When you hear our stories, when you hear our pain and our triumphs, you can’t help but applaud the efforts of the folks that came before you.”
• “These conversations are so constructive because we have to have these uncomfortable conversations so that we can deconstruct it and reconstruct it.”
• “If you hang in there, find a community, go to your family, find your tribe that can support you during hard times.”
• “Your career doesn’t have to be this straight line or a narrow path. It’s only as small as you make it, so why not make it as big as you can?”
• “You don’t have permission to say that the way I tell my story is wrong. Don’t tell me that the way I tell my story or my interpretation of your story is wrong.”
• “Nothing beats a failure but a try.”
• “The universe and God has all of these wonderful ways of structuring our lives if we just get out of the way.”
• “You are enough. You always have been. You will continue to be enough and no one can take that away from you.If someone says that you’re not enough, that has more to say about them than it actually does about you.”

Mentioned

• Alicia Graf Mack 
• Misty Copeland
• Límón Dance Company
• Jose...