VAIL DANCE FESTIVAL 2025 Opens Friday with Lineup of International Artists and Companies

The world-renowned Vail Dance Festival will open its 2025 season this Friday, July 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado. Produced by the nonprofit Vail Valley Foundation and under the artistic direction of Damian Woetzel, the festival will present 14 performances and more than 40 special events across the Vail Valley through August 5.

This year’s Opening Night performance showcases a dynamic sampling of the diverse programming to come, with styles ranging from ballet and tap to modern and street dance. Highlights include a jam session featuring jookin’ sensation Lil Buck with tap dancers Michelle Dorrance, Emiko Nakagawa, and Dario Natarelli, accompanied by pianist Joel Wenhardt and kora player Youba Cissokho. The program also features:

• Adji Cissoko and Shuaib Elhassan of Alonzo King LINES Ballet performing Feeling Uneasy

• Melissa Toogood, this year’s Artist-In-Residence, in Loose Time by Merce Cunningham

• Kayla Mak in O’Clock by Juliano Nunes, with live piano by Tony Siqi Yun

• A cross-company performance of Jerome Robbins’ Other Dances featuring Isabella Boylston (ABT) and Roman Mejia (NYCB)

• BLACK SWAN Pas de Deux excerpts with Mira Nadon and Chun Wai Chan (NYCB)

• Christopher Wheeldon’s The Two of Us danced by Sara Mearns and Robbie Fairchild

• An excerpt of Scheherazade performed by LINES Ballet

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS

Alonzo King LINES Ballet

Saturday, July 26 at 7:30 p.m.
A full evening from the acclaimed company featuring Ode to Alice Coltrane and Mother Goose, Alonzo King’s take on Ravel’s 1912 suite Ma mère l’Oye.

UpClose: Song & Dance

Sunday, July 27 at 6:00 p.m.
Artistic Director Damian Woetzel hosts a behind-the-scenes evening of dance and song in rehearsal and performance, with excerpts by Balanchine, Taylor, Wheeldon, and Robbins, plus work from Patricia Delgado, Justin Peck, Tiler Peck, Caili Quan, and Pam Tanowitz.

Balanchine Celebration

Monday, July 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Featuring classic works including Concerto Barocco, Agon Pas de Deux, Square Dance, Apollo, and more. Performers include stars from NYCB, ABT, Philadelphia Ballet, and Colorado Ballet, with live music by Cameron Grant, Johnny Gandelsman, Caroline Shaw, and others.

Paul Taylor Dance Company

Tuesday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Returning for the first time since 2018, the company performs Company B and a 50th anniversary presentation of Esplanade, alongside a new Movement Sentence Choir by Larry Keigwin in honor of what would have been Taylor’s 95th birthday.

TICKETS & MORE

Tickets and the full schedule are available at vaildance.org. For box office assistance, email boxoffice@vvf.org or call 970.845.TIXS (8497).