Artists-In-Residence Fly to Great Heights
CAILI QUAN � ROMAN MEJIA By Sarah Silverblatt-Buser
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his summer’s Vail Dance Festival highlights two Artists-In-Residence: dancer and choreographer Caili Quan and New York City Ballet (NYCB) soloist Roman Mejia. The residency offers opportunities for tailored enrichment of these rising artists, who this year complement each other in their embodiment of the spirit of the Festival. Both are admired for their infectious enthusiasm, thirst for challenge, and pure passion for moving to music. Dance is in —Caili Quan their bones. Mejia’s father, himself a former NYCB soloist, described his son “dancing in diapers,” showing an uncanny musicality from a young age. Quan, who grew up in Guam, credits the Pacific island and its culture of community celebrations for instilling dance in her DNA. Quan first performed at the Festival with BalletX in 2014. Her quick ascent as an in-demand choreographer results from seven rich years dancing with the esteemed Philadelphia-based contemporary ballet company. “At BalletX,” Quan says, “I was part of 30 premieres, and that creative process was where I really fell in love with choreography.
“I’m always trying to come back to the joy of moving and to create processes that nurture artists.”
BalletX was my life school.” It was representing BalletX that she presented her first choreographic work at the Festival in 2018. This summer as Artist-In-Residence, Quan will share her talent through performing, teaching, and choreographing. Like BalletX’s vast repertoire itself, Quan incorporates numerous styles and influences into her works, all building from a strong foundation in ballet. “I love ballet,” she says. “There’s something about that effortlessness and euphoria in executing a step just right.” Yet before studying ballet in New York City, Quan brightly recalls memorizing music videos from VHS tapes in her living room as a young girl. This omnivorous appetite for dance has centered music and the dancers in front of her at the core of her choreography. “I love the collaborative process and watching how the body responds to music,” she says. “I’m always trying to come back to the joy of moving and to create processes that nurture artists.”
Caili Quan is Generously Underwritten by The James & Janet Averill Charitable Fund.
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Caili Quan in Solo on a Saturday. Photo by Christopher Duggan.