CiCi Kai (they/them) is a contemporary movement artist whose journey is deeply rooted in resilience, identity, and transformation. Born at 27 weeks and weighing just one pound and eleven ounces, CiCi overcame life-threatening medical challenges, including collapsed lungs, blood clots, and proudly embraces their scars. With profound-severe hearing loss CiCi wears a Cochlear Implant on the left ear and a Phonak hearing aid on the right. After completing physical and occupational therapy, CiCi was introduced to dance at the age of four and from that moment on, movement became both a healing tool and a lifelong language of expression. CiCi has also performed at the Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival with Antoine Hunter and returns to their foundational school the Moog Center for Deaf Education, deepening their commitment to advocacy and representation within the deaf community.

CiCi trained at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) in St. Louis, MO, where their artistic voice was nurtured by mentors including Lee Nolting, Alicia Graf Mack, Jennifer Welch Cudnik, Gina Bon-Perez, Mariko Kumanomido, Carrie Fernandez, Kirven and Antonio Douthit-Boyd. CiCi’s training expanded through intensives at Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and Boston Conservatory. They have worked with artists such as Matthew Rushing, Ron K. Brown, and Norbert De La Cruz III. In 2024, CiCi earned a B.F.A. in Contemporary Dance Performance from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where they received Dean’s List honors and the Dance Division Faculty Scholar Award. Their performance credits include works by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar restaged by Maria Bauman, Crystal Perkins, and student choreographers. Following college, CiCi deepened their self exploration through Dancers Making Moves Podcast with Carly Vanderheyden and worked as an Administrative Assistant for Saint Louis Dance Theatre.

CiCi moves forward in purpose and possibility, ready for their next collaboration, their next creation, their next calling—carrying the fullness of who they are.