Yan Malaki
Ukrainian dancer and choreographer Yan Malaki (b. 2002 in Apostolove) has received voice and dance lessons since early childhood. When his family moved to Kyiv, he enrolled to study classical choreography at the Serge Lifar Municipal Dance Academy. During his studies, he took part in many productions of the National Opera of Ukraine, including the roles of second soloist in Kristian Lever’s Under the Tide and principal soloist in the performance Two Fauns. As a representative of the Academy, he participated in the International Dance Competition in Israel, where he won the 4th Grand Prix, and in the International Dance Competition Tanzolymp in Berlin, Germany.
After graduation in 2021, he came to Lithuania and joined the Ballet Company of the Klaipėda State Music Theatre in December of the same year. He performs both principal and demi-soloist roles in KSMT’s dance performances. In 2022, he took part in the ballet company’s choreographic workshop project “Attention! Ballet”, where he presented two miniatures: Fauns to the music of Claude Debussy and Devoid of Feelings, Not Devoid of Love to the music of Ezio Bosso. In 2022, he also choreographed a piece for the triple bill of dance performances Doña Quixote, Part I.
In the KSMT’s Catch the Wave Awards, he won the Dance Debut of the Year (2021) for the role of John in Theodorakis’s ballet Zorba the Greek (chor. Lorca Massine), the role of the Prince Nutcracker in Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (chor. Kirill Simonov) and the role of Seminarian Petryla in In the Shadow of the Altars (chor. Aurelijus Liškauskas), as well as two Ballet Artist of the Year (2022, 2023): the first for his role of the Boy in Doña Quixote (Part I), the role of Young Faust in Faust (chor. Robert Bondara) and the role of Žilvinas in Eduardas Balsys’ ballet Eglė, Queen of the Grass Snakes (chor. Martynas Rimeikis), and the second for soloist roles in the dance performance On Dreams and Cacti (chor. Robert Bondara and Alexander Ekman). In 2024, he won the Golden Cross of the Stage award for his solo roles in the dance performance On Dreams and Cacti (chor. Robert Bondara and Alexander Ekman, 2023).
