Elladj Balde: On his new relationship with figure skating, social media fame, and getting more kids of colour on the ice
With over 2 million followers across his social accounts, the former competitive skater says he feels "completely free" in expressing himself in videos that often go viral. He spoke exclusively to Olympics.com.
Figure Skating
Find Elladj Balde on a slab of mid-winter ice at the local park, an outdoor youth hockey rink, or a frozen over Canadian lake.
On any of the three (and elsewhere), he is likely figure skating, and on all of the three he is in his unbridled happy place, connecting with the sport that he long felt at odds with in ways he had never dreamed he would before.
“Now I can be completely free,” says Balde in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com. “And so this ability to now be able to have that kind of freedom has honestly healed my relationship with skating in a lot of ways; and has allowed me to find a deeper sense of fulfillment that I think I've never really had prior.”
Balde has found that freedom in a variety of ways, and shares it with his over 2.3 million followers across his social media platforms, where his skating videos have gone viral, with one garnering some 12.3 million views to date.
“I think social media can be incredible,” he says. “And what it's given me in my life is something that I will forever be grateful for.”
But these days Balde is skating with a greater purpose: The former competitive skater for Canada with Russian and Guinean heritage continues to strive to be an example for aspiring young Black skaters, launching a fund to get more of them in the sport (the Skate Global Foundation), while also creating a program that aims to re-invigorate the sport’s creative roots, called Art of Performance.
“We want to give tools to those skaters who are coming up, and allow them to find success, especially for those skaters of colour,” he says.
Elladj Balde: 'My relationship with skating has shifted'
The World Figure Skating Championships arrive in Montreal next week (20-24 March), where Balde will perform in the opening ceremony before serving as co-choreographer with his wife, Michelle Dawley, for the event-ending exhibition gala.
“Worlds has definitely been on the bucket list for us,” Balde says of he and Dawley’s choreographer work.
Fourth at Canadian nationals four times in his career, Balde competed once at Worlds, in 2014, placing 18th. He retired after the 2018 season, but it was when he and Dawley began creating short-form videos for social media that he began to make new his relationship with a sport he started at age seven.
“My relationship with skating has shifted so much since I retired,” he says plainly. “Towards the end of my competitive career, I was starting to really dive deeper into what it means to be an artist as well as the technical things. But who am I as Elladj on the ice, and how am I different from everyone else? That journey started for me then.”
Toggle through Balde’s hundreds of videos on social and you get the picture (literally): There he is, racing down a frozen over lake with a videographer trying to keep up. In another, he stares intently down the camera lens before beginning an impassioned skate to Labrinth’s Mount Everest.
“Do not let anyone make you feel ashamed of what you are passionate about,” he writes in the caption of the latter video, which has garnered some 650,000 views on Instagram.
“So many people I've seen and so many people have sent me messages about picking up their skates for the first time in years or ever and getting on the ice because watching some of these videos creates this feeling of just like, ‘I want to do that too,’” he explains with a smile.
Creating pathways for skaters of colour
While Black skaters have seen a smattering of success at the top of the sport, Balde says there is still a long way to go, and applauds the efforts of the likes of Joel Savary and Diversify Ice, which was involved with Howard University’s team becoming the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) to field a competitive skating team.
“I think there's so many things that we all wish could happen faster,” he says. “But there's also a reality, that, you know, things take time to shift.”
That’s in part why he and Dawley have efforted the Skate Global Foundation, which aims to alleviate the entry level costs and ongoing financial burdens that can serve as deterrents for many young skaters.
“It’s so expensive,” Balde said, shaking his head. They’ve partnered with Skate Canada and will start taking applications soon.
While he never competed at an Olympics, Balde sees his social media ripples as creating a new kind of figure skating fan – and or... figure skater: “What has happened with social media and the amount of success I've been able to experience, I know [that] has already created a wave of skaters that believe that they can be part of this sport, even though I haven't competed on that [Olympic] level, or I haven't achieved those kind of results internationally,” he says.
Mae-Berenice Meite and Starr Andrews are just two Black skaters who continue to compete on the international level, though that list includes more skaters throughout the past.
“Surya Bonaly, for example. The impact she's had in France and all over the world,” muses Balde of the three-time Olympian.
“Think of the amount of skaters, young Black skaters and skaters from different backgrounds, that were inspired by her. Her being not only French champion, but a world medalist and competing at the Olympics and being at that level has created another wave of inspiration and motivation for skaters of colour to be able to believe that they can be part of the sport and be successful. And I think the success part is an important one.”
World Championships: 'It's going to be so epic'
Ahead of the holiday season at the end of 2023, Balde was a part of the Stars on Ice tour, which made its way across Canada for a series of shows. While his videos have tallied up millions of views online, there’s nothing quite like performing in person, he says, especially in the wintry months.
“It's a very different vibe when you get to perform in front of a crowd,” he says. “It's that direct exchange of energy that you don't necessarily get in front of a camera. And so I definitely appreciate being able to share my craft and my art with people in person.”
He says he has “chills” thinking about the incoming performances at Worlds, particularly for the men, which is set to feature two-time and reigning world champion Uno Shoma, Olympic medallist Kagiyama Yuma, Grand Prix Final winner Ilia Malinin, and Adam Siao Him Fa, the two-time and reigning European champion.
“Seeing these guys battle it out at Worlds... it's going to be epic,” he says.
“It's hard to know who's going to take it. I think Ilia, just for his ability to jump in a way that no one else can right now, for me, is my favorite to take it. But who knows? You know, it's going to be really hard to predict because the guys, those top four guys... they're really strong.”
The energy exchange at Worlds should be through the roof. And – as Balde hopes – it could create a whole new set of skating fans. Inspired in a variety of ways.