Bilqis Hijjas founded Balletbase in 2006 to realize a lifelong dream of bringing quality performance opportunities to young ballet dancers in Kuala Lumpur. Trained in a wide variety of dance styles including ballet, contemporary, jazz and traditional Asian dance, Bilqis has performed in Malaysia with Sutra Dance Company and with the commercial company Dance Republic. While studying at Harvard University, she performed and choreographed for a number of campus dance companies, and worked under well-known American dance artists at the Radcliffe Dance Program, Carol Somers Dance and the University of Pennsylvania Dance Summer School.

In 2002, Bilqis completed her Graduate Diploma in Choreography at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. A passion for encouraging the development of young dancers has led her to conduct workshops and choreograph contemporary dance works for high schools in Malaysia and Australia. In 2005, Bilqis co-produced the feet IN first show for the Melbourne Fringe Festival, which included her contemporary dance work Flight Risk.

In addition to directing Balletbase, Bilqis is also responsible for the dance program at Rimbun Dahan, a centre for developing traditional and contemporary art forms just outside Kuala Lumpur, where she is working on establishing a residency program for contemporary dance choreographers. She also has a Masters degree in applied anthropology and international development.

Last updated 8 Dec 2007.
Copyright Balletbase 2006.