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Witnessing talented artists collaborate on a stage is magical. Those moments stay with you, permanently embedded in your psyche. Katie Malia has performed with music legend Prince, musical artist Charlotte Gainsburg and acclaimed choreographers Fatima Robinson and Ryan Heffington to name a few - truly career highlights. Malia started ballet at age 5 and trained throughout her childhood, subsequently stepping into the world of professional dance in New York and establishing a thriving career, working across TV, music and film. With the rigourous standards of ballet, opportunities to work on comedic projects proved liberating and an introduction to the comedy realm. She has since created a short-form comedy series, Almost Asian, which was a selection to multiple film festivals and performs stand-up in LA. Here, she talks about her trajectory, navigating the SAG-AFTRA strikes as a member of SAG and WGA and shares her thoughts on fashion’s relationship with ballet which led her to co-create the platform modelsdoingballet.
Text and Interview by Joy Kaunda
Katie, can you talk about your background in dance and music? What drew you to dance?
I began studying classical piano and ballet at age 5, and
there was something about beginning both at the same time that became a feeder
for both practices. Music and dance are deeply meditative for me, but it took
over three decades to reach that place of Nirvana and meditation during
movement where I wasn’t thinking about the technique so much as the spaces in
between — just riding the music. Dance is a very spiritual practice where my
ego melts, and so together I feel the most connected to my purest self,
untethered from Earth and this mortal coil. I trained in Vaganova Russian
ballet very rigorously all throughout my childhood and studied in the summers
at The Boston Ballet and Aspen Ballet. After high school, I moved to New York
to study dance and English literature at Barnard College of Columbia University
then dropped out (sorry mom and dad) so I could dance professionally. I feel
like my existence has been led by a life chasing that levitation and high. Not
much has changed since!
Who are
your influences in the world of dance?
Boris Eifman, Mats Ek and Maurice Bejart are some of my
favorite choreographers for a myriad of reasons, but mostly because I love
their choice of choreographing powerful contemporary ballets for women: Bolero
and Wet Woman are among performances I’ve obsessively watched and studied.
Sylvie Guillem and Natalia Osipova are literal genius goddesses who have
mastered technique, musicality, power, and passion. Give me technique, give me
lines, and give me power in a female performer fearlessly unhinged — Giselle
wasn’t crazy. She was RIGHT. This is my holy trinity. No dead ass feet and
hearts here. My absolute favorite performers are the ones who can master the
rules then destroy them.
What are some
dance career highlights for you?
Dancing with Prince and Charlotte Gainsbourg were
definitely highlights — just to be moving with those caliber of artists I
respect were unforgettable experiences; also, dancing in the Apple iPod
silhouette campaigns were so much fun because dance and technology were
beginning to work together in a really unique and new way back then. Also,
dancing in Ryan Heffington’s performances at the MOCA was so special because
he was doing something so different and new with contemporary dance and visuals
that felt raw and punk. To shut down the streets of downtown LA and see the
crowd get so big that people were literally climbing street light poles to
watch the show was unreal. But really, once I began finding freedom and humor
in my physicality was when so much of my career began clicking for me. I found
my voice in dance much later as an artist, sadly, after my knees and hips
calcified. Just kidding, but not really.
You have an
incredible body of work as a choreographer, what are some highlights and work you’re proud of?
Thank you! Choreographing Julianna Barwick feat. Jonsi from Sigur Ros’ music video ‘In Light’ was so special because we filmed it during covid in total isolation. My brother, Joel Knoernschild, was the director and our two dear friends, Randy Wedick, was the DP and Sami Martin Sarmiento was the costume designer. It was this special creation in lockdown that forced the four of us to work with each other using only the tools we had in our homes and create something super beautiful and special, which we did! I also loved choreographing the '11th Annual Distinguished Women In The Arts' for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) featuring musician Mary Lattimore that highlighted intergenerational dancers as well as the Xu Zhen exhibit 'In Just A Blink Of An Eye' at the MOCA curated by the magical Amanda Hunt. The dancers had to hold the poses for 30 minutes at a time! I don’t know how they did it.
Can
you share your thoughts on fashion's relationship with ballet and how it led
you to co-create the platform modelsdoingballet?
Fashion
is influenced and inspired by the world, the fantastical, the historical, and
ballet falls into that category. It’s beautiful! But, when a campaign involves
actual choreography or the requirement of a pointe shoe, the brand doesn’t hire
a dancer. Nothing wrong with wanting to incorporate either of those into a
shoot, just hire a dancer because models aren’t trained in that skill set which
leads to a poorly executed shoot and/or an injury. Just because something is
fashion doesn’t mean it can’t also be function when requiring those things.
It’s kind of like those Chanel surfboards. Like okay, you’re gonna make a
Chanel board, so why would you release a shoot of a model falling off one on a
wave? You can have both. Just hire someone with the correct specific skill or
dancers are gonna have a field day which is where MDB was born, through a
comedic lens. The latest Dior campaign hired Imre and Marne Van Opstal as
choreographers. The runway show and media campaign involved models and trained
dancers. What did they get? A dope shoot done right. That’s all. It’s really
not that hard but unlike Dior or the recent Valentino campaign starring
principal dancers wearing ballet flats, so many brands are proving us that it
is. I believe change is happening.
@modelsdoingballet
is the Kookslams and Diet Prada of the ballet world. Honestly what
prompted my Co-Creator, Suzanne Jolie, and I to launch the Instagram account
was humor. Fed up with models literally doing ballet and the Kendall
Jenner Vogue video, our idea was a late night laugh fest text thread that lead
to a ‘hey yo, we should start an IG account’ and
her responding “okay.". I thought we’d only have 15
followers and now we have over 93K. Misty Copeland, Isabella Boylston, and
James Whiteside follow us and we’ve been featured in Pointe Magazine and Marie
Claire now. Suzanne and I are both dancers and ballet teachers and met while
doing a Basement Jaxx music video in Los Angeles. After being in the dance
scene on both coasts for over 15 years, Suzanne and I reconnected just before
Covid texting funny photos of models doing ballet to each other laughing until
we were crying. Our hope is to continue to create change in the dance
industry through comedy and conversation and educate brands about showing
respect to dancers by providing job opportunities, fair compensation and
representation. It’s one thing to capture a model doing movement, it’s another
putting them in a pair of pointe shoes not knowing they can break an ankle.
Dance is a specialized skill that takes years of training. Would Speedo hire
someone with no swimming experience and post videos of the swimmer drowning in
a pool? It’s not the models fault, it’s the brands. Pretty sure brands like
Nike and Free People don’t want to look dumb and disrespectful, so we encourage
them to visit our website (ModelsDoingBallet.com) where we’ve posted resources
on hiring dancers! We hope to achieve representation for all dancers of all backgrounds,
specifically in ballet. Just hire a dancer, it’s not that hard. I guess I just
love fighting for the little guy and the marginalized be it the artis, Asian,
or dance community.
How did you get
into comedy acting? There are of course parallels between dance and acting, did
your training in dance help you with acting?
Being a dancer requires a mastery of movement and
physicality; and physical humor came super natural to me. Pretty sure it was in
response to the serious pressures of ballet, classical piano, and my intense
religious upbringing that made me lean towards the absurd and wanting to break
the rules. I have issues with authority, and I’m not afraid to push back. My
whole life I’ve been told what to do and more so what not to do, so comedy was
a pathway to freedom and self-empowerment. I began booking comedic projects
organically. If there was funny choreography, I would get the job because I
DGAF. Soon enough, I was sliding across the Paramount Lot holding a saxophone
in an 80’s unitard or dancing opposite huge comedians because the comedic space
lit me up. This led me to seek out proper training at Upright Citizens Brigade,
iO, and The Groundlings in LA. I loved throwing and thrashing my body around
for laughs, and because I have 30+ years of training in physicality, I could
seek a laugh when there was or wasn’t dialogue — laughter was freedom for me.
"@modelsdoingballet
is the Kookslams and Diet Prada of the ballet world...Our hope is to...educate
brands about showing respect to dancers by providing job opportunities...It’s
one thing to capture a model doing movement, it’s another putting them in a
pair of pointe shoes not knowing they can break an ankle. Dance is a
specialized skill that takes years of training."
You created and
starred in the well-received comedy series, Almost Asian. Can you
talk about exploring the complexities of identity through a comedic lens with the series?
My preferred tone of comedy is self-deprecation, absurdity, and sadness — I love being the butt of the joke (that’s a whole other discussion of my self-loathing period haha), so ALMOST ASIAN was a safe vehicle for me to stumble through my identity crisis through humor. I don’t vibe with social media virtue signaling or the performative United Colors Of Benetton commodification effect that so many advertising agencies have written the algorithm for, so I wasn’t afraid to point fingers at everyone, mostly myself, at the nuanced conversations that were coming to light surrounding identity at the time. Comedy is connection, and when used constructively, it can break the ice to create equality and deepen understanding through vulnerability. Comedy strips fear, and my goal with ALMOST ASIAN was always to question identity and acceptance while challenging stereotypes and expectations. I wanted to create an open dialogue for other mixed-race individuals, outsiders, and communities to celebrate their belonging with a wink. To not take ourselves so seriously in order to dismantle serious issues. When The Washington Post, PRI, and Fast Company reached out, that’s when I knew I had struck a nerve. Needless to say, I learned a lot and have grown so much since then. Discussions about identity now aren’t as interesting to me, I think because I’ve healed that part of myself and it feels too commodified. I’m more interested in issues surrounding classism and greed and believe it's the root of most issues, past and present. Films like PARASITE and TRIANGLE OF SADNESS light me up. I wanna see WHITE LOTUS but with a category 9 hurricane going through it.
How did creating the series shape you as a creative?
Through the series, I was able to step into the
driver’s seat and be free to express without an exec or client. I didn’t have a
lot of resources (I like to joke that my American Express financed the
webseries) so I had to be the writer, producer, actor, craft services, location
scout, costume designer, script supervisor, choreographer and animal wrangler.
My brother, Joel Knoernschild, fortunately collaborated with me as the director
and brought on a handful of incredibly talented friends that generously gave
their talents and time. The show was ours, and that was empowering. After
selling the half-hour to IFC with Margaret Cho and Evan Shapiro as my
Executive-Producers, my goal was always to bring everyone onto the series and
pay it forward, but after the network had a big shake up during development, I
had to find a new home, which due to covid and the strike has yet to happen. I
am confident we will find a new home for it!!
Comedy
actors who inspire you ?
Lucille Ball, Greta Gerwig, Lily Tomlin, Maria Bamford,
Paul Reubens, Phil Hartman, Jenny Slate, Issa Rae, Zach Galifianakis, Terri
Zwigoff and the Swedish director of the film, YOU THE LIVING. I love their
place in the world as never top of the food chain characters but somewhere in a
weird corner of it probably playing hangman alone. I grew up studying and
memorizing every facial quirk and delivery of their physical comedy. I still
can recite Pee Wee’s BIG ADVENTURE from start to finish verbatim. Paul Reubens
played a massive influence on me. Also, Kate Bush as a performer. Her Wuthering
Heights music video is so theatrical, and I could recite Hounds of
Love from start to finish as a 12 year-old suburban girl…and still can.
As a member of SAG
and WGA, how has it been, personally, navigating the ongoing strikes?
It hasn’t been easy. Coming out of three years of an ever
changing industry during Covid to a double strike with no end in sight right
now is a head fuck. My writing projects have all been put on hold and there
aren’t any theatrical auditions, which forces a dead stop to the momentum that
took forever to regain after the pandemic, spiritually, creatively and
financially. I 100% support the issues our unions are fighting for and everyone
holding the line in solidarity, it’s just incredibly frustrating and demotivating.
Some days I feel creative and inspired, others feel pointless and I don’t feel
like picketing. Not because I don’t believe in the causes but because I’m too
angry. I know the people at the top DGAF — especially given their latest
counteroffers. The top execs aren't at the studios, they’re on their yachts in
the Mediterranean wearing jade eggs from Goop. It can feel pretty demeaning
holding a little stick with a sign hoping the strike ends just so I can get
back to work not for my creative needs but literal survival like healthcare
eligibility. I don’t even care about bringing my ideas to life right now, I
straight up just want to make my healthcare enrollment so if I get hit by a
truck next year I can say yes to being wheeled away in an ambulance. I’m not
trying to be rich. I just want to be middle class, and I don’t mean Erewhon LA
middle class. Honestly, the union community and my friends are what keep me
going — to fight for each and every one of our voices, literally. The bigger
issue of late stage capitalism and corporate greed is also fuel for my fire
inside. If I could write any Disney live action remake right now, it would be
Robin Hood vs. Bob Iger; but he’d probably sue me for copyright and defamation.
"My preferred tone of comedy is self-deprecation, absurdity, and sadness...so ALMOST ASIAN was a safe vehicle for me to stumble through my identity crisis through humor."
How can the
average person support or play a role in this necessary fight for fair working
conditions for writers and actors who represent and entertain us?
What a thoughtful question, thank you and I appreciate
anyone wanting to support this necessary fight in our current unstable economic
climate — HONK! When you see us picketing in LA and NY! Support the arts in any
way that you can. Don’t cancel your subscriptions because we need our shows to
be watched! Go to the movies. Go see live shows. Support unions by starting
small in conversations with family, friends, and coworkers. Support workers.
The dance studio I taught ballet at just permanently closed in LA (my second
one in three years), and our wonderful Mark Taper Auditorium in downtown is
going dark for the upcoming season. So sad. America doesn’t have major
government funding for the arts, so every little bit helps. Sometimes it
can feel overwhelming trying to support all the necessary causes especially
when there’s fires in Hawaii and yet another mass shooting, so if it’s buying
one ticket to see a film in a theatre then to escape then, thank you. And
beyond the scope of entertainment, I’d say to be mindful of labor and income
inequality in all avenues of the workforce is necessary not just for ethics and
morals but survival.
As an extension of
your comedy acting, you’ve been doing standup. Can you talk about bringing
together your interests - comedy, dance, music - in this way?
The answer is simple: I’m a control freak. Improv never
came natural to me because I love obsessively crafting and refining jokes until
I get it right, and standup felt right because the pressure is all on me. If I
bomb, it’s on me. If I kill, it’s on me. Sketch is super fun but again, it’s
too team oriented, and I really didn’t like team sports growing up. I play
piano in my standup and also have a dance character I perform onstage that
allows me to showcase all my talents while relying on literally no one; and
because every word for the most part is memorized, I get to write and appease
my inner control OCD freak. Not sure if it’s the healthiest choice, but I’ve
always been a lone wolf, so it feels right. I love collaborating on set! But
live performance is very much a solo journey.
How has LA shaped
you as a creative?
I was always an introvert extrovert. Some of my earliest
memories were drawing for hours, playing legos and listening to my Fisher Price
record player on repeat in my room. Being creative on my own is my happy place.
The geography of LA forces its inhabitants to be in our cars for hours a
day — my little car is an extension of my childhood. Driving across the city is
where ideas come to me. While living in New York City, the subway was this
space for me, but it wasn’t as isolated. I loved navigating the city with my
headphones, always the goddam headphones. Music is my cocoon and baby blanket.
So, LA has made me more of a solo performer with an emphasis on music.
Music is the life source for all my ideas. A song will inspire a joke,
character, or storyline. My greatest fear in life is going deaf. No joke.
What would you
like to be defined by?
I feel liberated in the undefined. I’m constantly surprising myself, evolving and changing. Remaining undefined feels free to me!
What advice would
you give regarding leading a creative life?
BE YOURSELF.
Lastly, circling back to dance, can you tell us about your ballet classes?
I teach a weekly intermediate/advanced ballet class in
Silverlake. I started teaching at Ryan Heffington’s studio, The Sweat Spot,
(which was my dance community for over a decade) where Ryan trusted and
supported me to create a safe space for dancers to strengthen their technique,
quiet the perfectionist voice, and move from the heart. My philosophy is to
fall back in love with the craft by moving from the inside, out.
Follow @ParticipanteJournal on Instagram. Find @KatieMalia on Instagram.
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