Laura O’Malley was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and trained on full scholarship at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. She has danced as a soloist with Stuttgart Ballet and Dutch National Ballet. Among the leading dramatic roles performed by O’Malley were Giselle in Giselle, the Sylph in La Sylphide, Olga in John Cranko’s Onegin, Lulu in Christian Spuck’s Lulu, and Olympia in John Neumier’s Lady of the Camelias.
Falling in love with self-expression and contemporary dance, O’Malley later danced for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and SFDanceworks. She created works with many contemporary choreographers and performed leading roles in notable pieces from William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Wayne McGregor, Jorma Elo, Marco Goecke, Alonzo King, Hans Van Manen, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Sharon Eyal, Azure Barton, Nacho Duato, Alejandro Cerrudo, and Danielle Rowe.
O’Malley co-directed SFDanceworks from 2019–2021 and has choreographed for various dance films, LINES Ballet’s education programs, Berkeley Ballet Theater, American Ballet Theater’s choreographic incubator, and SFDanceworks. She rejoined LINES Ballet as Ballet Master from 2021 to 2022.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Company, BFA at Dominican, Dance Center
Photography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dancer: Laura O’Malley | © RJ Muna