Mahallia Ward

Mahallia Ward is from Austin, Texas. There, she trained with her mother and on scholarship at the Slavin Nadal School of Ballet. As a freshman in high school, she moved to Boca Raton, Florida to attend the Harid Conservatory on full scholarship. During her time there, she trained with Victoria Schneider, Olivier Pardina, and Svetlana Osiyeva. While at Harid she danced Spanish, Arabian, and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, and other lead roles in Swan Lake, Raymonda, and contemporary works by Mark Godden. She was awarded the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Education Fellowship, the Ruth Nelson Kraft Award, and the Fred Lieberman Award for Excellence. She graduated from Harid after three years and received a scholarship to study in The Joffrey Ballet’s trainee program under the instruction of Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik. She danced lead roles in Alexei Kremnev’s Nutcracker Suite, Fire Bird, and Blue Velvet. She also worked with Joffrey in their production of The Merry Widow. One year later, she is thrilled to be dancing with the company in their 2011-2012 season.