Daniel Meja
Daniel Meja was born in Nice, France, and received his initial training from Rosella Hightower's school in Cannes. He continued his studies in Paris with Attilio Labis until being engaged by the London Festival Ballet, where he appeared in London and on tour in roles in Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet. Mr. Meja then appeared with the Ballet del Teatro alla Scala in Rudolf Nureyev's production of Romeo and Juliet and in Giselle, and accompanied them on a tour to the United States, where he remained to continue his studies with David Howard. He appeared with the Chicago Ballet as a guest artist in The Nutcracker and with Cleveland Ballet as a guest artist in Quicksilver, Les Sylphides and The Nutcracker.
Photographs by Jock Sturges, Bernie Gardella & Marty SohlMr. Meja then spent several seasons with the San Francisco Ballet, where he created roles in Michael Smuin's Hearts (photo, above left) and also in Brahms Haydn Variations and also appeared in ballets such as Cinderella, Con Amore, Agon, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart C Minor Mass,La Fille Mal Gardee, La Sylphide, Cinderella, Menuetto, Western Symphony, Stars and Stripes, The Nutcracker and To the Beatles.
In 1989, Mr. Meja joined the Boston Ballet, where he remained until 1994, and where he began his partnership with Jennifer Gelfand (Photo by Roy Round). Mr. Meja's repertory includes roles in a wide range of the classic and contemporary repertory, including Raymonda (Photo by Bernie Gardella), The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, La Fille Mal Gardee, Swan Lake, La Sylphide, Etudes, Giselle, Coppelia, Allegro Brillante, The Four Temperaments, and many others.
He has appeared in ballets by choreographers as diverse as George Balanchine, Maurice Bejart, Michael Smuin, Lew Christensen, Fernando Bujones, Choo San Goh, Rick McCullough (Photo by Bernie Gardella), Mikhail Lavrovsky, Uwe Scholz and Youri Vamos.
He is the recipient of medals at competitions in Varna, Bulgaria, Jackson, Mississippi and New York City. His accomplishments have been noted in Dance Magazine and Ballett International and other international press, and he received praise from Newsweek Magazine and worldwide notice for his performances as the Jester in the Konstantin Sergeyev/Natalia Dudinskaya production of Swan Lake and has been acclaimed for his appearances as Basilio in Don Quixote (Photo by Bernie Gardella) and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.
Mr. Meja has performed as a guest artist with the Kirov Ballet, in Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet, as a guest artist at international ballet festivals, including the Don des Etoiles in Montreal, Canada, as the partner of Kirov ballerina Irina Tchistyakova, dancing Flames of Paris, at the Tokyo International Ballet Festival, as an invited guest at the opening ceremonies of the Jackson International Ballet Competition with Jennifer Gelfand dancing the Esmeralda pas de deux, with Valentina and Leonid Kozlov and Friends in pas de deux from La Bayadere and Sleeping Beauty, with companies such as Ballet du Nord, the Zurich Ballet, the Philippine Ballet Theatre, Deutsche Oper am Rhein and at many other festivals and gala performances, in Europe and Asia, including performances in Manila before the Queen of Spain, a tour of Spain with the Boston Ballet, dancing with Jennifer Gelfand and Adriana Suarez, and performances at Kennedy Center before Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.
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