Caili Quan

Caili Quan, a New York choreographer, who danced with BalletX from 2013 to 2020, spent time working with Ballet West artists recently. Quan first saw Ballet West perform at Joyce Theatre in New York a number of years ago. “I was quite taken with the dancers in terms of how strong they were as ballet dancers, by the way, they could move so beautifully well,” she said.  

Now she is preparing Ballet West dancers for her world-premiere creation that will be presented at Ballet West’s sixth Choreographic Festival June 5 – 8. Quan has created works for BalletX, The Juilliard School, Vail Dance Festival, American Repertory Ballet, Flight Path Dance Project, Stars of American Ballet, Asbury Park Dance Festival, Oakland Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, and Ballet Academy East.  

Starting with a piece she originally created as a short duet, Quan is now expanding the piece into a full ballet. She first spent time internalizing the music and beginning to visualize how the dance would come together. As she prepped for a rehearsal with Ballet West artists, she opened up about the journey.  

“With each choreography process, my favorite part of the creative period is when you go into a studio as a blank space and you come out three weeks later and there is a whole ballet, just out of four walls and a mirror. I knew as I was dancing, I slowly felt my heart pushing towards creating. I will always love dancing, but I just love the process of making dances.”