An amazing thing about this art form is that you learn your whole career. I think one of the things that drew me to ballet especially is that it never gets old. You know, you continue to learn things until you retire.

My name is Roman Mejia, and I’m a principal dancer with New York City Ballet.

The first thing I really remember as a kid is being in a studio. Both of my parents were dancers. My dad was a dancer in New York City Ballet and my mom was a dancer in Chicago City Ballet. So dance has been in my life for as long as I can remember.

I didn’t really have a babysitter, so I was always in a dance studio while they were teaching. I started dancing at the age of three, and I kind of visited it as a fun pastime because I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. So, I mean, a little bit of ballet and dance in the city, but not a whole lot.

I was always the only guy kind of in the studio and in my school. So going from there to New York, where there were 20 other boys in my class, was a big, big change, but also super exciting for me because I had a little more competition and it was a nice challenge for me.

I’ve now been at New York City Ballet for almost… wow, it must be eight or nine years now. Yeah. I feel very, very lucky to be a part of that.

The only time you start later is during season when you have a two-show day. So then you’ll get to start at 12:30 on Saturday. You still do two shows, but usually as a principal dancer you maybe dance… I mean, the maximum I’ve danced this past season was, I don’t know actually, I had six shows. So yeah, it is a lot.

I think one highlight of my career that I always think very fondly of was my first really big principal role, and it was given to me basically as soon as I was promoted to the corps de ballet. I got to play the part of Mercutio in Peter Martins’ Romeo and Juliet, and it was kind of my first really big role with the company. It was a dramatic one as well, so I look back really fondly on that.

My dad and I have actually shared roles in New York City Ballet, including Symphony in C Third Movement, Oberon, and Rubies. So if I ever ask, we go over choreography together and he helps me a lot, gives me notes if I ask. But I always ask.

I would say my dream role would be Romeo, and I think MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. At New York City Ballet we don’t get to do many story ballets. Most of the ballets that we do are usually 20 minutes long and there’s not really a narrative. We do have short story ballets like Prodigal Son and Apollo, which I finally got to debut, but I would really like to challenge myself.

I would say my biggest personal challenge is probably taking a break when I need one. It’s really hard as a dancer to know when you need to take a break, especially when you’re feeling in such great shape and you’ve just been going and going and going. Knowing when to stop, take a step back, and take a good week off is difficult.

You can only go for so long. As I said, you only have one body, so you have to listen to it. If it’s telling you that you need a break, you need a break.

If I have a day off from New York City Ballet, it’s usually spent on the couch. But outside of ballet, I love to go to the Philharmonic and listen to some good music. I love to watch TV shows and go visit my family in Connecticut. Really, I enjoy things where I don’t have to use my body.

Dancing to me means everything. No matter how you feel, you can come in on any day and express whatever you want. Whether you’re having a hard day or you’ve lost someone you love, you can come in and just work it out. Everything is always the same, you know. To me, it’s an amazing way to express yourself.