COMMUNITY ARTS ACCESS (CAA)

The Vail Dance Festival partners with cross-sector community organizations including non-profit, educational, religious, governmental, and other agencies to distribute free tickets to each of the world-class performances throughout the course of the Festival. This program was introduced in 2016 to further the Festival’s commitment to making the arts accessible and available to everyone and expose the art of dance to new audiences. This program builds on existing Vail Dance Festival outreach programs, which offer free lawn tickets for children 12 and under as well as discounted lawn tickets for students and faculty. Furthermore, we dedicate the Dance for $20.25 performance as an evening devoted to arts accessibility by capping ticket prices at $20.25 for pavilion seats and $10.25 for lawn seats. We also offer free performances such as Dancing in the Streets in Vail and Dancing in the Park in Avon.

Past CAA Partner Organizations:

• Family Learning Center
• Minturn Seniors
• Your Hope Center
• Eagle Valley Behavioral Health
• Vail Youth Ballet Company
• The Literacy Project
• Bright Future Foundation
• Habitat for Humanity
• Roundup River Ranch
• Mountain Youth
• EFEC
• Very Young Composers

For opportunities to become a part of or contribute to this program, please contact [email protected].

AMBASSADOR & INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Ambassador Program
Designed for 8th–12th grade students. Ambassadors act as stewards to the Festival working to spread the word and educate the community about Festival programming. Similar to the Internship Program, Ambassadors gain experience and knowledge of the arts and arts administration and participate in a community service project.

Internship Program
Each year, the Festival engages ambitious graduate and undergraduate students to serve as members of the Festival team, working to support the key areas of the Festival operations. These experiences offer an immersive opportunity to gain experience and knowledge of the arts and arts administration from some of the world’s greatest dancers, choreographers, and artistic leaders.

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CELEBRATE THE BEAT POP HOP CAMP

Registration Is Open!

Pop Hop Camp is a Vail Dance Festival summer program for incoming 4th-8th Graders. This FREE week-long arts education dance program is designed to foster teamwork, creativity, and the joy of accomplishment through dance. Pop Hop culminates in a performance at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater on International Evenings of Dance I.

The Celebrate the Beat program was introduced in Eagle County in 2007 by Celebrate the Beat Founder and Artistic Director Tracy Straus and Vail Dance Festival Artistic Director, Damian Woetzel. 

Vail Dance Festival also underwrites other CTB summer programming in Eagle County, including the Celebrate the Beat Celebration Team.

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SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM 

This year we welcome Elijah Geolina and Daniel Guzman as our 2025 Scholars-In-Residence.

The Scholar-In-Residence designation awards advanced pre-professional dancers representing alternating techniques each year the opportunity to take part in the Vail Dance Festival. At the Festival, the young dancer scholars receive mentorship and hone their artistic practice over an immersive two weeks where they participate in company class side-by-side with Festival artists from around the world, attend rehearsals and events, and have opportunities to perform in classic repertory as well as new works. Young artists in this position have represented a range of genres of dance including ballet, flamenco, street dance, and tap.

Past Scholars-In-Residence:

Kayla Mak & Emiko Nakagawa
Elena Heiss
Juliette Doherty
Dario Natarelli
Phyouture
Naomi Funaki
Philip Duclos
Yeva-Mariia Skorenka, Polina Chepyk, & Eva Hrytsak
Spencer Lenain & Kyle Ikuma