John Malashock, Artistic Director
John Malashock brings 35 years of experience in dance, theater and film to his current endeavors as Artistic Director of Malashock Dance & The Malashock Dance School, during which time he has created over 60 choreographic works, dance/theater collaborations, theater and opera productions, and award-winning dance films.
John founded Malashock Dance in 1988 after a distinguished performing career with Twyla Tharp Dance in New York, where he danced from 1979 – 1984. In 1991, he established the Company in residence at San Diego’s highly esteemed Old Globe Theater and was the first San Diego-based choreographer to receive National Endowment for the Arts funding. Under his leadership, Malashock Dance has grown to become one of California’s premiere dance companies and his work has now been presented throughout the United States, Central America, Japan and Central Europe.
Malashock began his performing career with the Utah Repertory Dance Theatre, working with such distinguished choreographers as Lar Lubovitch, Anna Sokolow, Donald McKayle and Jennifer Muller. With the Tharp Company, he performed world-wide; was an original cast member of such notable works at The Catherine Wheel, Nine Sinatra Songs, Fait Accompli, When We Were Very Young, Short Stories, and Brahms Paganini; appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus; was featured in numerous television specials (Dance in America, The Catherine Wheel, Twyla Tharp Scrapbook); and performed in benefit concerts with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Cynthia Gregory.
John’s own productions have earned top awards in San Diego among the Dance and Theater communities. He has garnered four Emmy Awards for his dance films (Love & Murder, The Soul of Saturday Night, Apologies from the Lower Deck, and The Gypsy’s Wife), which have aired on over 30 affiliate PBS stations nationwide. His 2000 work, Blessings & Curses received the San Diego Dance Alliance's Tommy Award for Outstanding Overall Production as well as the KPBS Patte Award for Outstanding Dance Theatre.
Malashock has many notable collaborative credits to his name. He has choreographed for theater productions at the La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theatre, and San Diego Repertory Theater. His work has been commissioned for music festivals at the San Diego Symphony, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, and Ventura Music Festival. He has choreographed major productions at San Diego Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera de Montreal, Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Colorado, and Minnesota Opera.
John is also a passionate and respected teacher. He teaches workshops throughout the year at The Malashock Dance School and has served as guest faculty for the American Dance Festival, California State University Long Beach, Dance Space (New York), ADF/Tokyo, National Dance Company of Macedonia, Connecticut College, SEAD (Vienna, Austria), Encuentro Centroamericano de Danza (Costa Rica), Colorado Dance Festival, University of Utah, and UC at Irvine, and the Iwanson Academy (Munich), among many others.
A leader within the local and national dance communities, Malashock currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Dance USA and is a past Board President of the San Diego Dance Alliance. Malashock took the leadership role in conceiving, developing and establishing Dance Place San Diego, an eleven-studio facility which is now home to Malashock Dance & The Malashock Dance School, as well as two other San Diego-based dance companies, and is used by most choreographers in the city.