NOW: Premieres to Close Vail Dance Festival's 2026 Season

The Vail Dance Festival will conclude its 2026 season on Monday, August 10 with NOW: Premieres at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater: an evening of world premiere commissions featuring a selection of today's most influential choreographers and an extraordinary roster of dancers from a range of disciplines. The 7:00 p.m. MT performance will be livestreamed and available for viewing at vaildance.org until Sunday, August 16.

Marking the 20th anniversary of Artistic Director Damian Woetzel's leadership, the closing night program celebrates the Festival's legacy as a catalyst for artistic innovation and collaboration. Since 2007, the Vail Dance Festival has premiered more than 145 original works by visionary choreographers and composers, creating a singular platform where dance and music are developed together and where new artistic voices flourish.

Developed in collaboration with Festival artists, NOW: Premieres showcases bold new choreography, original musical partnerships, and exceptional performers in a program that embodies the Festival's enduring spirit of creativity, collaboration, and fearless experimentation. The choreographers represented are: Festival Artist-in-Residence Alexei Ratmanksy; Michelle Dorrance in collaboration with Chelsea Hoy; Christopher Wheeldon; Tiler Peck; Larry Keigwin; Pam Tanowitz; Chun Wai Chan; Robert Battle; Amanda Treiber; Robbie Fairchild; Takehiro Ueyama; and Lil Buck with Kayla Mak. 

New works to be premiered:

• Festival Artist-in-Residence Alexei Ratmansky, one of the world's most acclaimed choreographers, premieres a new work set to music by Raymond Scott featuring American Ballet Theatre principals Chloe Misseldine and Takumi Miyake, appearing courtesy of American Ballet Theatre, alongside New York City Ballet's Ryan Tomash. The music will be performed by a band of Festival musicians led by Joel Wenhardt.
• Trinity Irish Dance Company Co-Artistic Director Chelsea Hoy makes her Festival choreographic debut in a collaboration with tap innovator Michelle Dorrance. Blending Irish dance, tap, and ballet, the new work features Trinity Irish Dance Company artists Maddie Cabral, Anna Gorman, Sofía Dorantes, and Michael Fleck, together with tap dancers Dario Natarelli and Emiko Nakagawa, and New York City Ballet's India Bradley, Tiler Peck, and Roman Mejia. 
• Larry Keigwin, acclaimed choreographer and founder of KEIGWIN + COMPANY, debuts a new work featuring New York City Ballet principal Indiana Woodward, Memphis jookin' pioneer Lil Buck, independent dancer Jerard Palazo, BalletX's Savannah Green, American Ballet Theatre's Kayla Mak, Daniel Guzman, and Elijah Geolina, Royal Danish Ballet's Philip Duclos, and acclaimed Ukrainian dance duo Veronika Rakitina and Vladyslav Detiuchenko, who make their U.S. debuts at this year's Festival. 
• Pam Tanowitz, the celebrated choreographer known for her creative innovation and recipient of the 2025 Doris Duke Artist Award, creates a new work for five extraordinary dancers: New York City Ballet principals Sara Mearns and Unity Phelan, American Ballet Theatre principal Catherine Hurlin, and acclaimed independent artists Melissa Toogood and Daisy Kate Jacobson. The work features a newly commissioned score by Festival Composer-in-Residence Caroline Shaw, a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer.
• New York City Ballet principal Chun Wai Chan makes his choreographic debut with a new duet created for himself and fellow NYCB principal Mira Nadon, who are joined by pianist Tony Siqi Yun who plays the Rossini score.
• Robert Battle returns following his Festival debut last season to create a new solo for American Ballet Theatre principal Calvin Royal III, who is joined by musicians including bass-baritone Davóne Tines performing Festival composer-in-residence Caroline Shaw's Is a Rose in a new arrangement for this premiere. 
• Broadway star and former New York City Ballet principal Robbie Fairchild premieres a new duet performed by himself and acclaimed dancer and choreographer Lauren Lovette set to Tchaikovsky piano music played by Derek Wang. 
• For her Festival choreographic debut, Amanda Treiber, choreographer and former New York Theatre Ballet dancer, presents a new quartet featuring New York City Ballet artists Naomi Corti and Dominika Afanasenkov, American Ballet Theatre's Brooks Landegger and Michael de la Nuez. The score by Grażyna Bacewicz will be performed by pianist Michael Scales. 
• For his Festival debut, Takehiro Ueyama, Artistic Director of TAKE Dance, creates a new work featuring BalletX dancer Savannah Green and independent dancer Jerard Palazo. 
• New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck, whose acclaimed choreographic career was launched at the Vail Dance Festival, continues that creative legacy with a world premiere featuring New York City Ballet's India Bradley and American Ballet Theatre apprentice Kayla Mak set to music by Festival Composer-in-Residence Caroline Shaw.
• Robbie Fairchild and Lauren Lovette will perform an encore of Christopher Wheeldon's latest Festival commission, "A Breath Away from Where You Are" which received its official world premiere at this season's State of Grace performance on August 3. The score by the late composer Ezio Bosso will be performed by longtime Festival string quartet in residence Brooklyn Rider. 
• As a pièce d'occasion, Lil Buck and American Ballet Theatre's Kayla Mak will collaborate on a new duet set to music by Ringdown, the electronic cinematic pop duo formed by Festival Composer-in-Residence Caroline Shaw and multi-instrumentalist and fellow vocalist Danni Lee Parpan. 

Casting and repertory are subject to change.

Tickets for the NOW: Premieres performance at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater can be purchased at vaildance.org. 

The livestream of the performance is free to view and will be available for viewing at vaildance.org until Sunday, August 16.

Please contact Joel Solari, Public Relations Manager, for details, assets, and interview scheduling. 312-678-7568.

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