2025 UNDERWRITING OPPORTUNITIES
6 COMPANIES 150+ MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS 10+
CHOREOGRAPHERS
14 PERFORMANCES
FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE UNDERWRITING
The Center Will Not Hold
A Dorrance Dance Production
$37,500
Following her sold-out performance at last year’s Festival, acclaimed tap dancer Michelle Dorrance returns to the Vilar Performing Arts Center with The Center Will Not Hold, a new production created by Dorrance and Ephrat Asherie. The evening-length show features a collective of singular performers deeply rooted in many street, club, social, and vernacular dances and features original music composed by Donovan Dorrance, performed live by extraordinary drummer and percussionist John Angeles.
July 30 // Vilar Performing Arts Center, Beaver Creek
Dancing in the Park
$40,000
Dancing in the Park returns to the Town of Avon at the performance pavilion at Nottingham Park for a one-of-a-kind and participatory performance for dance fans of all ages. Free and open to all, the program features BalletX, Colorado Ballet, and Festival artists as well as a performance by the Celebrate the Beat Celebration Team.
July 31 // Avon Performance Pavilion at Nottingham Park, Avon
International Evenings of Dance
IE1 // $75,000
IE2 // $60,000
IE3 // $70,000
The International Evenings of Dance, which since 1993 have brought a succession of extraordinary artists to the Vail stage, continue the tradition with dancers making their Festival debuts, including American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Chloe Misseldine and Royal Danish Ballet principal dancer Ryan Tomash. Returning dance stars will include Broadway and ballet star Robbie Fairchild; American Ballet Theatre’s Isabella Boylston, Catherine Hurlin, Calvin Royal III, and James Whiteside; New York City Ballet’s Chun Wai Chan, Joseph Gordon, Sara Mearns, Roman Mejia, Mira Nadon, Tiler Peck, and Unity Phelan; tap dance icon Michelle Dorrance; modern dance force Melissa Toogood; and street dance pioneer Lil Buck. These dance stars will be joined by rising artists, including Dominika Afanasenkov, Olivia Bell, Gilbert Bolden III, India Bradley, Naomi Corti, and KJ Takahashi from New York City Ballet; Royal Danish Ballet’s Philip Duclos; Philadelphia Ballet’s Mayfield Myers; independent dancers Stephanie
Terasaki, Rachel Lockhart (MJ: The Musical), Zack Gonder and Daisy Kate Jacobson (Twyla Tharp Dance), and Spencer Lenain, Kayla Mak, and Emiko Nakagawa who are all former Vail Dance Festival ScholarsIn-Residence and are now emerging young artists in the professional dance world. See some of the brightest stars in dance today in role debuts, classic repertoires, and contemporary styles and genres.
August 1 // Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, Vail
August 2 // Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, Vail
A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham
$37,500
The critically acclaimed contemporary dance company A.I.M by Kyle Abraham makes its Vail Dance Festival debut! Led by Princess Grace and MacArthur Award winner Kyle Abraham, the company is celebrated worldwide for its engaging and dynamic performances galvanized by black culture and history. The program will feature Abraham’s homage to Nina Simone, entitled If We Were a Love Song, and Abraham’s celebrated solo Show Pony, along with other recent works.
August 3 // Vilar Performing Arts Center, Beaver Creek
NOW: Premieres
$65,000
NOW: Premieres is the Festival’s annual showcase of newly commissioned dance works, all making their debut on one legendary night performed by an extraordinary cast of dancers and musicians. This season’s choreographers include Robert Battle*, Michelle Dorrance, Justin Peck, Gianna Reisen*, Bobbi Jene Smith, My’Kal Stromile*, and Melissa Toogood. *Festival debut.
August 4 // Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, Vail
Dance for $20.25 with BalletX
$65,000
An evening of dance at special prices featuring Philadelphia’s premier contemporary ballet company, BalletX, celebrating its 20th anniversary season, closes out this year’s festivities with a thrilling performance featuring Matthew Neenan’s acclaimed dance The Last Glass, set to the music of the band Beirut.
August 5 // Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, Vail
1 The Center Will Not Hold at New York City Center's 2024 Fall for Dance Festival. Choreography by Ephrat Asherie and Michelle Dorrance. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
2 Dancing in the Park at Nottingham Park in Avon, CO as part of the 2024 Vail Dance Festival. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
Choreography by George Balanchine. © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
by Kyle Abraham in If We Were a Love Song by Kyle Abraham. Photo by Maria Baranova.
Dance Festival. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
WORLD PREMIERES
The Vail Dance Festival strategically commissions new works each year, placing innovation and expansion at the heart of the Festival’s development. Artists benefit from enhanced creative focus in the Festival’s serene mountain setting, and all testify enthusiastically to the close-knit “laboratory” environment that fosters high-caliber artistic experimentation and cross-genre exploration.
Robert Battle
Robert Battle makes his first work for the Festival this season, building a cast from the extraordinary line-up of Festival dancers and musicians. Battle has been a leader in the dance world since his graduation from Juilliard in 1994 when he joined Parsons Dance Company and subsequently began choreographing for the company. He created his company BattleWorks in 2001, continued on to become Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 2011-2024, and now is a resident choreographer for Paul Taylor Dance Company in addition to creating projects globally.
Michelle Dorrance
MacArthur Genius fellow Michelle Dorrance returns to Vail in several capacities this summer: as a dancer participating in multiple performances, as the co-creator with Ephrat Asherie of the new show The Center Will Not Hold, and as the choreographer of a new work for NOW:Premieres which builds on the works she has been making at the Festival since 2016. For this season, Dorrance will co-choreographer a new work with Bobbi Jene Smith.
Larry Keigwin
Larry is familiar to Vail audiences from works he has created for the festival since being its first Artist-In-Residence in 2010, and he returns this year to create a joyous community dance work bringing together the professional artists of the Festival with the local Vail community. A fervent believer in the power of dance to unite people, Keigwin’s choreography erases boundaries through brilliant and witty choreography that is unifying and uplifting.
Rachel Lockhart
Lockhart is a 2023 Juilliard dance graduate, already making her mark on stages from the Metropolitan Opera to Broadway as an acclaimed member of Justin Peck’s Illinoise original cast. A Dancemagazine “25 to watch” artist for 2025, Lockhart makes her Vail Dance Festival debut this year as a dancer and choreographer, creating a group dance to bring together various artists to close the International Evenings of Dance Saturday performance.
Justin Peck
Among the world‘s most in-demand choreographers, Justin Peck returns to Vail this summer to once again create multidimensional works at the festival taking advantage of the range of dancers gathered in Vail from a wide variety of disciplines. This past year Peck premiered his latest work for New York City Ballet where he is Resident Choreographer. Acclaimed for his work on Broadway and film as well as ballet, his recent Broadway musical Illinoise won the Tony Award for Best Choreography.
Gianna Reisen
Following on recent works for the New York City Ballet, L.A. Dance Project, and other companies, Reisen makes her choreographic debut this year at the Vail Dance Festival with an intimate work for a small group of dancers.
Bobbi Jene Smith
A groundbreaking dancer and choreographer, Smith creates her third work for the Festival, following Mercy, created for the digital festival in 2020, and MASS, created for Sara Mearns for the 2022 Festival and subsequently seen in New York City to critical acclaim. This season, Smith takes on a new challenge, creating both individual work for a small cast and a co-choreographed piece with the choreographer and tap dancer extraordinaire Michelle Dorrance.
My’Kal Stromile
Stromile is a 2018 Juilliard dance graduate, who has been performing with the Boston Ballet since graduation and developing a growing career as a choreographer. A mentee of the groundbreaking choreographer William Forsythe, Stromile has made new works for the Boston Ballet and other companies, including the fall of 2024 premiere for the Paris Opera Ballet. Stromile will debut this season in Vail Dance Festival, creating a new work for a cast of ballet dancers from multiple companies, including New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.
WORLD PREMIERES CONT'D
Pam Tanowitz
Renowned choreographer Pam Tanowitz is one of the most acclaimed choreographers working today, with recent works at Britain’s Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, and Miami City Ballet this spring. Tanowitz returns to Vail for the 2025 season to do a solo, for the rising young artist Spencer Lenain. Tanowitz debuted in 2017 and has been a fixture at the Festival for many years.
Melissa Toogood
This year’s Artist In Residence at the Festival, Melissa Toogood, is a Bessie Award-winning modern dance luminary who was a protégé of Merce Cunningham and a member of his final company. Toogood created her first work for the Festival in 2023 and returns now to create a distinctive solo that will explore movement across genres.
Underwriters for new works will be recognized in perpetuity when the work is performed at the Vail Dance Festival. New works and premieres have gone on to be performed on stages by other artists around the world including Alonzo King LINES Ballet, BalletX, Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center, Los Angeles Music Center, Martha Graham Dance Company, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, San Francisco Ballet, and more.
RESIDENCIES
Each year, we offer a number of residencies to exceptional artists, allowing them to engage with the festival on a deeper level and grow artistically. These Residencies recognize the talent of our artists and musicians, allowing for an enhanced Festival experience year after year.
Artist-In-Residence
$25,000
Melissa Toogood
Scholar-In-Residence
$10,000
TBD
Leonard Bernstein Composer-In-Residence
$25,000
Caroline Shaw Multi-Instrumentalist, Vocalist
Quartet-InResidence
$25,000
Brooklyn Rider String Quartet