Jagoda Ignaczak graduated in theatre, film and television studies from the University of Łódź, and completed post-graduated studies for managers of culture at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
In 1987-1997, Jagoda Ignaczak worked as a senior assistant at the University of Łódź (Drama and Theatre Unit, Institute of Literary, Theatre and Film Theory), holding some of the first courses and seminars on dance history. In 1989, she was appointed literary manager and spokeswoman with the Polish Dance Theatre under Ewa Wycichowska, where she worked until 2016. She also served as the programming consultant at the International Contemporary Dance Workshops and International Dance Theatre Festival in Poznań (until 2016). An active academic teacher, she has collaborated with the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Collegium Da Vinci in Poznań, and the Poznań School of Social Sciences. She was among the initiators of the post-graduate dance theory programme at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where she currently teaches. A lecturer at the Poznań University of Physical Education, she also serves as guest lecturer at numerous universities and college nationwide. She specialises in the 20th and 21st century dance history. She was a long-time consultant and reviewer with the Central Examination Board (CKE) in the field of Dance Theory.
Jagoda Ignaczak has published on dance and theatre in a number of periodicals and journals, such as Pamiętnik Teatralny, Taniec, Teatr, Didaskalia, Więź and Theatre in Poland /Le Theatre en Pologne. She also edited a number of dance entries for Encyclopaedia Britannica.
She has contributed to, and edited, a number of historical albums, including XX lat Polskiego Teatru Tańca Baletu Poznańskiego [20 years of the Polish Dance Theatre Poznań Ballet] (Poznań 1993), Polski Teatr Tańca Balet Poznański 1973-1998. Jubileusz XXV-lecia [Polish Dance Theatre Poznań Ballet 1973-1998: 25th anniversary] (Poznań 1998), Ruch i myśl, Wydawnictwo jubileuszowe 35-lecia Polskiego Teatru Tańca [Movement and Thought: A publication for the 35th anniversary of the Polish Dance Theatre] (Poznań 2008) Pod prąd do źródła, Album jubileuszowy, 40-lecie Polskiego Teatru Tańca [Against the current towards the origins: An album for the 40th anniversary of the Polish Dance Theatre] (Poznań 2013), the cycle of publications XL. Polski Teatr Tańca wczoraj i dziś [XL: The Polish Dance Theatre yesterday and today] ( Poznań 2013/2014)/ She also edited a conference proceedings volume Improwizacja w tańcu jako metoda pracy twórczej i terapeutycznej [Improvisation in dance as a method of creative and therapeutic work] (Poznań 2003).
Jagoda Ignaczak has edited several hundred programmes for the pieces produced by the Polish Dance Theatre, Cullberg Ballet, Grand Théâtre de Genve, the International Dance Theatre Festival in Poznań, and others. From 2008 till 2016, she was the supervising editor of Pulse Dance.
She is a member of the editorial team of the Dictionary of 20th and 21st century dance. Her current project is a monograph on professor Ewa Wycichowska, supported by the scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.