Madison Ryan grew up in Louisiana training at her local dance studio, A Touch Of Class Performing Arts, and later at The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts under Nikoloz Makhateli. Madison joined Alabama Ballet as an apprentice and was promoted to company dancer in 2017. During her professional career with Alabama Ballet, she has performed many of classical ballet’s most demanding leading roles, including Giselle in Giselle, Kitri in Don Quixote, Dew Drop and Sugar Plum Fairy in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, Russian Girl in Balanchine’s Serenade, and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty.

A career highlight was performing in TWIGS, a ballet created for Alabama Ballet by James Whiteside to music by FKA Twigs. Madison has spent summers guest dancing with Kentucky Ballet Theatre (2022–2024) and Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance (2026), where she enjoyed connecting and collaborating with different artists from all over the world.

Sponsored by: Fran Lawlor