2025 Vail Dance Festival Impact Report

Dear Dance Festival Friends,

We are delighted to share highlights from the 2025 Vail Dance Festival and express our heartfelt gratitude for your support that continues to make our Festival what it is today. Your impact on our community and the broader dance world is truly remarkable.

The Vail Dance Festival has established itself as a world-renowned creative laboratory where innovation flourishes. This year, your generous support enabled us to premiere 16 new works by a selection of today's most dynamic choreographers—both celebrated artists and emerging voices shaping the future of dance.

This season celebrated the artistry of exceptional companies including A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, BalletX, Colorado Ballet, DanceAspen, and Paul Taylor Dance Company. Each brought their distinctive voice to our stages, creating a powerful demonstration of how dance serves as both individual expression and thrilling collective art form.

Central to our mission is nurturing the next generation of artists from around the world. We were honored to have Melissa Toogood as our Artist-In-Residence, whose contributions, alongside those of all our participating artists, made this season truly unforgettable.

Thank you for your continued partnership in making the Vail Dance Festival an incredible success.

Sincerely,

Susan Campbell Committee Chair Damian Woetzel Artistic Director

VAIL DANCE FESTIVAL COMMITTEE

Susan Campbell // Chair

Jill Plancher // Vice-Chair

Judy Berkowitz // Chair Emeritus

Priscilla Brewster

Je rey Byrne

Sara Friedle

Stacey Gillett

Lisa Goldman

Sheika Gramshammer

John Harrison

Sally Hybl

Alexia Jurschak

Jonna Mackin

Jane Netzorg

Senenne Philippon

Fred Tresca

Betsy Wiegers

Tina Wilson

Damian Woetzel // Artistic Director

MARQUEE PRESENTER

Jody & John Arnhold Arnhold Foundation

PREMIERE PRESENTERS

Susan & Je Campbell

Jill & Kevin Plancher

Tina & David Wilson and The Carol F. Storr Endowment for Classical Ballet

Oscar Tang & Agnes Hsu-Tang, Ph.D.

SEASON PRESENTERS

Priscilla Brewster

Jonna Mackin, Ph.D.

We are grateful to the Vail Dance Festival Committee and our Marquee, Premiere, and Season Presenters for their leadership of, commitment to, and investment in our incredible Festival.

FESTIVAL BY THE NUMBERS

$964,683

,133 Performance Tickets Sold

Venues 27

Festival Events & Master Classes; $18,190 revenue generated

Attended in the Past 94% Likely to Return Again 94% Came specifically to Vail for the Festival

$4.1M Economic Impact

3 ,118

Room Nights Booked in Vail by Festival Guests and the Vail Valley Foundation for Sta and Artists

568 Individual Donors (9/1/24–8/31/25)

14 Donor Events

16 Commissioned World Premieres

12 Conversations on Dance Podcasts Recorded

7,516 Viewers Experienced the NOW: Premieres Livestream

FESTIVAL FUNDING BREAKDOWN

This year, 64% of our funding came from individual donations. Thanks to YOUR unwavering support, we were able to make this Festival a success!

VARIATIONS FOR THREE

Music by Niccoló Paganini

Choreography by Tiler Peck

Generously Underwritten by Susan & Je Campbell.

Music by Davóne Tines and THE TRUTH

Choreography by Rachel Lockhart

Generously Underwritten by Susan & Je Campbell.

Music by Tschaikovsky, “Swan Lake Op. 20 Act III No. 19: Pas de Six”

Adapted and Arranged by Joel Wenhardt

Choreography by My’Kal Stromile

Music by Kate Moore

Choreography by Artist-In-Residence Melissa Toogood

Music: "By and By" Original hymn by Albert Brumley, later version by Caroline Shaw, arranged by THE TRUTH; Extension arranged by DAVÓNE TINES & THE TRUTH Choreography by Lil Buck By & By Excerpt premiered in August 2023, and was made possible by support from Irene Shen.

Generously Underwritten by Gina Browning & Joe Illick.

Music: “Karakurenai” by Andy Akiho

Choreography by Robert Battle

Generously Underwritten by Priscilla Brewster.

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FREE Dancing In the Streets 1

Our Community Arts Access (CAA) program has been an integral part of the Vail Dance Festival for many years, providing much-needed access to attend performances for members of our community who may not otherwise be able to. This year, CAA was planned to be largely funded by an annual grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that we learned will no longer be available to the Vail Dance Festival.

We want to express our sincere thanks to generous supporters Jamie Babin and Mauri Pioppo & Keith Funger who stepped in with donations to help us cover the funds we needed for CAA. Thank you, Jamie, Mauri, and Keith, for helping us maintain this essential programming.

FREE Dancing In the Park 364

Children 12 & under received free lawn admission 278

FREE tickets distributed 1 ,619

Reduced-price tickets sold to Dance for $20.25 446

Discounted lawn tickets sold to students & faculty 2

Scholars-In-Residence 94

Children participated in the FREE Celebrate the Beat Pop Hop Camp 40

Children participated in the FREE Celebrate the Beat Celebration Team 13

Master Classes o ered

INTERN & AMBASSADOR PROGRAMS

We are committed to helping nurture the career development of our future generation of artists, leaders and professionals through our robust intern & ambassador program for ambitious middle school, high school, college and post-grad students. Seventeen interns and ambassadors joined us in 2025.

INTERN PROGRAM

Interns support a variety of areas including artist services, marketing, operations, logistics, development, and merchandise. Eight talented young professionals and graduate and undergraduate students from across the country joined us for more than two weeks gaining extraordinary experience.

“Vail Dance Festival has been an important part of my life since I was 10 years old. From attending performances every summer to interning for 2 years to performing on the stage, it was truly a magical experience to be among so many incredible artists. I am proud to have made my childhood dream come true.”

—Emmy Wildermuth

2021 & 2022 Intern // Paul Taylor Dance Company Dancer

AMBASSADOR PROGRAM

A unique hands-on opportunity for 8th–12th graders. Ambassadors provide both community service and receive educational experience. Nine ambassadors joined us in 2025.

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS

Thank you to our amazing volunteers for giving their time and hard work to make this year’s Festival a success. 67 Volunteers joined us in 2025.

SOUNDS OF DANCE

Among the things that make the Vail Dance Festival so singular are the many collaborations between dancers and musicians, and our embrace of cross-genre collaboration. Classical, contemporary, and jazz musicians collaborate with cutting-edge choreographers to create new, expressive works. This was powerfully illustrated by this year’s finale of International Evenings of Dance III: “Let it Shine.” This work, arranged by opera singer Davóne Tines and choreographed by recent Juilliard graduate Rachel Lockhart, brought together a large cast dancers for a genre-defying collaboration with the full roster of Festival musicians, including special guest Rhiannon Giddens, our composer-in-residence Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, and Brooklyn Rider, the acclaimed string quartet that celebrated its 20th anniversary season this year.

The Heather Watts Emerging Artist Fund has reached its initial goal, marking a significant milestone in supporting young talent. The fund proudly launched by supporting Scholar-In-Residence Elijah Geolina, who lit up the Vail stage this summer. An exciting beginning!

WINTER DANCE AT THE VILAR BALLET JAZZ MONTRÉAL ON MARCH 26TH

Celebrate the magic of dance with us this winter as the Vilar Performing Arts Center and the Vail Dance Festival present Ballets Jazz Montréal in Dance Me featuring the music of Leonard Cohen on March 26TH! This vibrant production weaves dance, music, and visual art into a spellbinding experience honoring Montreal's iconic cultural treasure.