Elijah Labay, born in Victoria, British Columbia, started training at Ballet Arts Academy in Spokane, Washington. In 2004, Elijah joined Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division and while attending, he received the First Step’s Audience Choice Award for his choreographic work. In 2007, Elijah attended the Fellowship Program at The Alvin Ailey School on full scholarship. Elijah received a Professional Advancement Award at Jacob’s Pillow to work with Aszure Barton, Helen Pickett, and Tero Saarinen. During his time at Ailey, Elijah spent multiples summers at Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts and in 2009, he joined Florida Dance Theatre directed by Carol Erkes.

In 2010, Elijah attended NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH 4 where he worked intently with Loni Landon and James Gregg. Upon joining the company, Elijah was featured in André Mesquita’s duet “A Short History of Walking” as well as original works created by Sarah Slipper, Patrick Delcroix, Ihsan Rustem, Lucas Crandall, Jiri Pokorny, Pedro Dias, Danielle Agami, Yin Yue, Gregory Dolbashian, Wen Wei Wang, Felix Landerer, Alex Soares, Olivier Wevers, Noam Gagnon, and others. Throughout his career, Elijah has had the opportunity to explore and grow his choreography creating on the company members of NW Dance Project. Elijah has participated in teaching and has created original works at several of NW Dance Project’s Summer Dance Intensives and has taught masterclasses across the United States.

After eight years with NW Dance Project, Elijah joined Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal under the direction of Louis Robitaille, where he had the opportunity to travel and perform works by Andonis Foniadakis, Itzik Galili, Ihsan Rustem, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. While there, Elijah had the honour of performing Andonis Foniadakis duet “Soul” in Les Grand Ballets 2019 Soirée des Étoiles.

Elijah Labay is currently living in New York where he is a freelance artist, focusing on dance and choreographing. As an artist, Elijah strives to prioritize diversity and inclusivity.