Vail Dance Festival 2026 Season Announced, Celebrating Twenty Years Under the Direction of Damian Woetzel
The Vail Valley Foundation’s Vail Dance Festival announces Alexei Ratmansky—one of today’s most celebrated ballet choreographers —as its 2026 Artist-in-Residence. A defining voice in ballet, Ratmansky has created critically acclaimed works for many of the world’s leading ballet companies and is currently Artist-In-Residence at New York City Ballet. Continuing on as the Leonard Bernstein Composer-in-Residence for her 10th year at the Festival, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy award winning composer and performer Caroline Shaw will join Ratmansky as a creative driver of the 2026 Festival. The 2026 season will take place July 31–August 10 throughout the Vail Valley, with 11 performances and 30+ events in Vail, Beaver Creek, Avon. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Damian Woetzel, the Festival will present a dynamic lineup celebrating excellence in dance and music including headlining performances by the Martha Graham Dance Company as part of the company’s centennial anniversary, Philadelphia’s Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance Theater in a Festival debut, and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and Colorado Ballet representing the dynamism of dance in Colorado today.
The 2026 Festival marks the 20th anniversary of Woetzel’s tenure as Artistic Director, celebrating two decades defined by the commissioning of over 130 new works from established and emerging choreographers for dancers across the spectrum of the artform, collaborations with extraordinary composers and a wide range of musicians, and growth of the Festival to include numerous educational and community events.
Beginning with choreographer Christopher Wheeldon as he launched his company Morphoses at the 2007 Festival, Woetzel has welcomed dancemakers of various genres into the lab environment that is a signature of the Vail Dance Festival. Creative voices commissioned over the years have included Paul Taylor, Michelle Dorrance, Robert Battle, Brian Brooks, Pam Tanowitz, Alonzo King, Shantala Shivalingappa, Larry Keigwin, Alexei Ratmansky, Claudia Schreier, Fang-Yi Sheu, Lil Buck, Matthew Neenan, Jodi Melnick, John Heginbotham, Lauren Lovette, Tiler Peck, Jamar Roberts, and Justin Peck. Essential to the collaborative work have been the musical collaborators who have been a part of the Festival, including Philip Glass, Caroline Shaw, Jason Moran, Rhiannon Giddens, Vijay Iyer, Gabriela Lena Frank, and the musicians of Brooklyn Rider among many others.
“This season reflects what the Vail Dance Festival has become over these past twenty years: a place for collaborative adventure, for next steps at every stage of an artist’s career, for presenting a range of dance companies in a spirit of creative exchange,” says Woetzel. “Welcoming Alexei Ratmansky as Artist-in-Residence to our creative lab in the Rockies during this milestone year brings the energy of what dance is today, and the catalytic possibility of what it can be into the future.”
Tickets will go on sale to the public on Thursday, March 12, 2026 at vaildance.org.
About 2026 Artist-In-Residence Alexei Ratmansky
Acclaimed choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is the Vail Dance Festival’s Artist in Residence for 2026, marking his first time in Vail to participate in the Festival. Several of Ratmansky’s works have been performed in Vail over the last years, including his Fandango which was commissioned by the Festival in 2010.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ratmansky is of Ukrainian descent and trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow prior to becoming a Principal Dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet. From 2004 to 2008, he was the Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He served as Artist in Residence at American Ballet Theatre from 2008 to 2023, and in 2023 became Artist in Residence at New York City Ballet. He is also Associate Artist with Dutch National Ballet, and his work is performed by nearly all major international ballet companies.
The Vail Dance Festival Artist-in-Residence program spotlights leading dancers and choreographers, elevating their distinct artistic voices through world premieres, curated programs and performances. Artists-in-Residence are fully embedded across every facet of the Festival, collaborating with fellow artists and engaging disciplines beyond their usual practice. This exchange fosters a unique creative environment—one whose impact extends far beyond Vail, building collaborative partnerships and impetus for the time to come.
Recent Artists-in-Residence have included modern dance icon Melissa Toogood; New York City Ballet principal dancers Sara Mearns and Roman Mejia; Adji Cissoko of Alonzo King LINES Ballet; American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Calvin Royal III; and choreographer/dancers Jamar Roberts and Caili Quan.
An All-Star Line Up of Dancers, Musicians and Choreographers
Choreographers making new dances this season will include Artist-In-Residence Alexei Ratmansky, Robert Battle, Michelle Dorrance, Larry Keigwin, Tiler Peck, Pam Tanowitz, and in Festival choreographic debuts, Chun Wai Chan and Amanda Treiber. New dances will be featured throughout the Festival and on the NOW: Premieres closing night performance, which focuses on new work exclusively.
Festival artists will include Broadway and ballet star Robbie Fairchild; tap dance icon Michelle Dorrance; New York City Ballet’s Dominika Afanasenkov, India Bradley, Preston Chamblee; Chun Wai Chan, Naomi Corti, Sara Mearns, Roman Mejia, Mira Nadon, Tiler Peck, Unity Phelan, Ryan Tomash, Indiana Woodward; appearing courtesy of American Ballet Theatre Herman Cornejo, Catherine Hurlin, Chloe Misseldine, Takumi Miyake, Calvin Royal III, Yoon Jung Seo, Brooks Landegger, Kayla Mak; Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s Adji Cissoko, modern dance force Melissa Toogood; street dance pioneer Lil Buck; Former New York City Ballet principal dancer Lauren Lovette, Royal Danish Ballet’s Philip Duclos; BalletX’s Savannah Greene and Jerard Palazzo; and independent dancer Daisy Kate Jacobson. Other celebrated artists will be announced as the Festival draws closer.
Joining Composer-in-Residence Caroline Shaw who will perform as well as compose throughout the Festival, musicians collaborating at the Festival will include returning Quartet-In-Residence Brooklyn Rider (violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords and cellist Michael Nicolas), bass-baritone Davóne Tines, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Danni Lee Parpan, pianists Michael Scales, Derek Wang, and Tony Siqi Yun, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Kate Davis, musical director Shelbie Rassler, a jazz ensemble led by pianist Joel Wenhardt, and the National Repertory Orchestra under the baton of Michael Stern.
###
About the Vail Dance Festival
Established in 1989, the Vail Dance Festival is an internationally renowned two-week celebration of exceptional artistry in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, featuring performances at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater and other venues throughout the Vail Valley. Led by Artistic Director Damian Woetzel since 2006, the Festival brings a wide range of extraordinary dancers and musicians to Vail and has established the Vail Valley as one of the top summer dance destinations in the world. The Festival features a variety of programming that welcomes everyone to enjoy the spectrum of dance, including commissioned new works of dance and music, adventurous collaborations, education initiatives, free community events, and more.
For more information, visit vaildance.org.