Biography

Elladj Baldé is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. His mother is from Russia and his dad is from Guinea. He was born in Moscow and immigrated to Montreal at two years old. Elladj’s mother’s enormous passion for figure skating was something that she had always hoped to instill in him from a young age. He started skating at the age of six and was on the National Team for Canada for over a decade skating competitively. Through his 20 years of competing, it is this passion that has stuck by him and pushed him to persevere through times of hardship in his career. It is also this passion that pours out in his skating and allows him to stand out as a unique performer.

Elladj speaks three languages fluently: English, French and Russian.

Prior to COVID, he was doing guest performances on tours all over the world including Spain, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Korea, and Russia. He is one of the most in demand show skaters and it has kept him very busy since his retirement from competitive figure skating. While unable to travel due to COVID, he decided to focus on his activism and recently co-founded a non-profit organization called the Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance. The organization is dedicated to increasing representation and accessibility to the BIPOC community through many exciting initiatives. While it has been a lot of work, he is very excited about the progress they have been making. He has recently started a relationship with the Hockey Diversity Alliance run by Akim Aliu and Evander Kane and many other top NHL players. You can check out more info on the organization here.

Elladj has had multiple videos go viral with upwards of 13 million views on Instagram and TikTok. These videos have been reposted by the likes of Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Aniston, Ryan Reynolds, Complex Magazine, Jesse Reyez, Sony Music, Saweetie, Dan Levy and many more.

Baldé’s goal is to make figure skating cool again and bring it back into mainstream culture. He wants to inspire young boys to pursue their passion and not be afraid to tap into their artistic/emotional selves. He wants young BIPOC skaters to see him and feel like there is a place for them in the sport. Lastly, he wants to show all figure skaters that beyond competitions, this sport is an art form that anyone can use to express oneself.

“My favorite part about this sport is being able to showcase my personality and charisma while connecting to the music I am performing to. This is what carries me across the ice. It inspires me to be able to move an audience emotionally by connecting with them through my performance. The exchange of energy is something that will forever ignite my love for what I do. It is also what has allowed me the opportunity to travel the world as a show skater performing in many different countries alongside the world’s top figure skating champions. By embracing my uniqueness and love for this sport, I have been able to make some of my wildest dreams a reality.”