Performance Details
GERALD R. FORD AMPHITHEATER
A brilliant cast of dancers and musicians take the stage in these signature Festival performances. Celebrating artistic collaboration and innovation, these unique evenings feature new partnerships and role debuts by a selection of today’s premier dancers.
Performance underwritten by Judy & Howard Berkowitz.
*International Evenings of Dance II will be performed without intermission
TONIGHT’S PLAYBILL
Performance times, casting and repertory are subject to change
Interested in the 5pm performance of International Evenings of Dance II? LEARN MORE
SEE WHO’S PERFORMING
Isabella Boylston
India Bradley
Lil Buck
Herman Cornejo
Robbie Fairchild
Joseph Gordon
Christopher Grant
Lauren Lovette
Roman Mejia
Ron Myles
Mira Nadon
Dario Natarelli
Unity Phelan
Tiler Peck
Caili Quan
Calvin Royal III, Artist-In-Residence
Cory Stearns
Devon Teuscher
Byron Tittle
Melissa Toogood
James Whiteside
Photo Credit: Roman Mejia and musicians Alberta Khoury, Brooklyn Rider and Dario Natarelli perform Alexei Ratmansky’s Fandango. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
Ticketing
Pavilion | $60 | $100 | $140
General Admission Lawn | $27
- Lawn tickets are free for children 12 and under.
- Students and faculty may purchase discounted lawn tickets in-person at the box office for $10.
- The Encore Club Pass is available for purchase for $175 ($95 savings! *including fees). Includes 1 lawn ticket to each performance (9 shows total), plus the ability to upgrade to reserved pavilion seating for $25. Click HERE to purchase the pass on June 1 at 11am MT.
- Questions? Contact the Box Office at boxoffice@vvf.org or call 970.845.TIXS (8497)
*Ticket prices are subject to change. Price listed does not include service fees.
Gates open one hour prior to showtime.
International Evenings of Dance II will have two performances: 5pm & 8pm
Meet the Performers
Isabella Boylston

Isabella Boylston

Lil Buck

Lil Buck

Charles “Lil Buck” Riley is a world-renowned and award-winning performing artist, entrepreneur, and advocate for the arts and humanities. Lil Buck’s dance repertoire includes a multitude of styles including Memphis Jookin’, ballet, hip-hop, and modern, just to name a few.
Over the course of his career, he has performed and collaborated with some of the world’s finest artists and brands including Yo-Yo Ma, Madonna, Alicia Keys, Janelle Monáe, Lizzo, Nike, Chanel, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Apple, Jordan, Lexus, Gap, and many others.
Outside of dance, Lil Buck is a true creative and has provided a unique skill-set to top-notch projects which include being a choreographer on the Starz TV series Blindspotting, Season 1 and 2, a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance, and roles in both the movie Emperor and the feature film Her. Lil Buck designed a capsule collection for Versace and provided artistic consultation to many brands over his lengthy career. Recently, Lil Buck’s story and creative process were captured in the documentary Lil Buck: Real Swan which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and in the Netflix documentary series, MOVE.
Lil Buck has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. In 2014, Lil Buck was presented with the Wall Street Journal’s Innovator of the Year award. His strong business acumen is ever present in the many projects that he is involved in outside of dance which include ventures related to food and beverage, brand management, fashion, and production.
Currently, Lil Buck is personally producing multiple major stage shows which culminate the essence of dance as a tool to change the world. One of his newest productions in development transforms Lil Buck back to his home-town roots. Entitled Memphis Jookin’: The Show, this awe inspiring production brings Lil Buck’s career full circle.
Herman Cornejo

Herman Cornejo

Herman Cornejo was born in Villa Mercedes, San Luis province, Argentina, and began his ballet studies at the age of eight at Teatro Colón’s Instituto Superior de Arte, Buenos Aires. At fourteen he received a scholarship from the School of American Ballet, the dance school of New York City Ballet and on his return to Buenos Aires he joined Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino. In 1999 Herman joined American Ballet Theatre, New York, was promoted to Soloist in 2000 and was appointed Principal Dancer in 2003. Herman has participated in numerous galas and has performed as Principal Guest Dancer with Ballet del Teatro Argentino de La Plata, Boston Ballet, Compañía de Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, Corella Ballet Castilla y León, New York City Ballet and Sapporo Ballet.
Robbie Fairchild

Robbie Fairchild

Robert Fairchild began dancing at the age of four in Salt Lake City. He began his training at the School of American Ballet at the age of 15 and shortly after rose through the ranks of the prestigious New York City Ballet. He became an apprentice with NYCB in June 2005. The following June, he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet. He was promoted to soloist in May 2007 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in October 2009.
Robert Fairchild made his Broadway debut last year with his breakout role as “Jerry Mulligan” in the Tony Award-winning musical AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance By An Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, and won the 2015 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, the 2015 Astaire Award for Best Male Dancer, and the 2015 Theatre World Award. He was also nominated for the 2015 Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance.
He appears regularly in NYCB’s seasons at Lincoln Center. His roles range from Prince Desirè in The Sleeping Beauty to works by world renowned choreographer William Forsythe. Last Fall he participated in “Broadway at the White House” where he danced for the First Lady Michelle Obama.
TV: “Julie’s Greenroom” on Netflix, Romeo in NYCB’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Carousel Boy in NY Philharmonic’s “Carousel,” both for PBS; “Live From Lincoln Center”, “Dancing With The Stars”, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, “Live with Kelly and Michael”, “CBS Sunday Morning”, “60 Minutes.” Film: NY Export: Opus Jazz.
Christopher Grant

Christopher Grant

Christopher Grant is a member of New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet. He was born in Jamaica, Queens, and began his dance training at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in 2002. He received additional training at summer courses at Pacific Northwest Ballet and the New York State Summer School of the Arts. In August 2015, he became an apprentice with NYCB and he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in August 2016. His repertory with NYCB includes featured roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Kyle Abraham, Mauro Bigonzetti, Peter Martins, and Alexei Ratmansky, and he has also originated featured roles in ballets by Abraham, Lauren Lovette, Justin Peck, and Pam Tanowitz.
Lauren Lovette

Lauren Lovette

Lauren Lovette personifies the intertwining of dance and choreography, moving seamlessly from one to the other. Her work has been commissioned and performed by leading dance companies and festivals, including the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Vail International Dance Festival, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Nevada Ballet Theatre, as well as a self-produced evening entirely of her own work in which she also danced, Why It Matters.
Born in Thousand Oaks, California, Lovette began studying ballet at the age of 11 at the Cary Ballet Conservatory in Cary, North Carolina. She enrolled at SAB as a full time student in 2006. In October 2009, Ms. Lovette became an apprentice with NYCB and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in September 2010. Promoted to soloist in February 2013 and to principal dancer in June 2015, she stepped down from her position at the company in 2021 in order to embark on a career devoted to dance and choreography in more equal measure. She is now the choreographer in residence at the Paul Taylor Dance Company and performs as a guest principal dancer around the world.
Ms. Lovette received the Clive Barnes Award for dance in December 2012 and was the 2012-2013 recipient of the Janice Levin Award.
Mira Nadon

Mira Nadon

Mira Nadon was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and began her ballet training at the age of six at the Inland Pacific Ballet Academy in Montclair, California.
She attended summer courses at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of NYCB, in 2014 and 2015, before entering SAB full-time for the 2015 winter term.
In November 2017, Ms. Nadon became an apprentice with NYCB. She joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in November 2018. Ms. Nadon was promoted to the rank of soloist in January 2022 and principal in February 2023.
Ms. Nadon has danced as a guest at the Vail Dance Festival and Nantucket Atheneum Dance Festival and has performed as a member of Ballet Collective. She is also a part-time student at Fordham University. She is the recipient of the 2021 Clive Barnes Award for dance and is a 2022 Princess Grace Award winner.
Dario Natarelli

Dario Natarelli

Dario Natarelli is a performer, choreographer, and dance educator specializing in tap dance based in NYC. He is honored to be a part of the Vail Dance family since 2016. Some of his credits include: The Tap Dance Kid (New York City Center Encores!), Tappin’ Thru Life (Off-Broadway), assistant choreographer to Michelle Dorrance (Vail Dance Festival), Dance Captain for Justin Peck (Broadway labs), a 2023 Netflix film with Bradley Cooper and Justin Peck, Newsies (Gateway Original Broadway Choreography), The Kennedy Center (soloist/choreographer), Radio City Christmas Spectacular (National Tour), national commercials, and more. He recently directed and choreographed his first tap dance short film: Lonely World. He is grateful to all friends, family, and mentors for their unconditional support. Respect the dance; go in rhythm. IG @dario_natarelli.
Unity Phelan

Unity Phelan

Unity Phelan was born in Princeton, New Jersey where she studied at the Princeton Ballet School. After attending summer courses at the School of American Ballet, Phelan was invited to attend the school full time and remained at the school for three years. Phelan was invited to join the New York City Ballet in the winter of 2012 as an apprentice and joined the company as a Corps de Ballet member in 2013. In the Winter of 2017, Phelan was promoted to Soloist dancer and in the Fall of 2021, she was promoted to Principal dancer. In her time at New York City Ballet, Phelan has danced numbers ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Alexei Ratmansky, Justin Peck, Christopher Wheeldon and other choreographers. Phelan has been featured in Dance Magazine, Elle Magazine, and People Style Magazine. In the last couple years, Phelan has been found on the silver screen acting in “John Wick 3: Parabellum” and “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”. In 2019, Phelan was awarded the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award for her work at New York City Ballet.
Tiler Peck

Tiler Peck

Tiler Peck has been a Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet since 2009. She made her Broadway debut at age 11 as Gracie Shinn in The Music Man and was seen on Broadway as Ivy Smith in the Tony Nominated On The Town. She originated the title role in Susan Stroman’s newest musical Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center and is attached to star in the Broadway production. Tiler made her choreographic debut at the Vail Dance Festival in 2018 and has gone on to choreograph and appear in episodes of Tiny Pretty Things and Ray Donovan, for the Boston Ballet and the box office smash hit film John Wick 3. She has also appeared on Dancing with the Stars, the Kennedy Center Honors and Live From Lincoln Center’s The Nutcracker and Carousel, Disney+’s The Hip Hop Nutcracker, and Josh Groban’s Great Big Radio City Show PBS special. As a guest star, she was the first ballerina ever to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In film she has starred in “Ballet Now”, a Hulu documentary that followed her as she became the first woman to curate and star in The Los Angeles Music Center’s presentation ofBalletNOW, “Ballet 422”, “A Time for Dancing”, and “Donnie Darko”. She is a recipient of the Princess Grace Statue Award, The Dance Magazine Award and was named one of Forbes 30 under 30. Most recently, she curated and directed the highly anticipated inaugural Artists at the Center for New York City Center that will make its European debut this summer as Turn It Out With Tiler Peck & Friends. This program marked her NYC choreographic debut and featured premieres from William Forsythe, Alonzo King, Jillian Meyers and Michelle Dorrance.
To keep the dance world connected during the pandemic, Tiler developed a free ballet class #TurnItOutWithTiler that airs on her Instagram. She is the designer of the Love,Tiler collection for Só Dança and the capsule collection Tiler Peck X STATESIDE in collaboration with the popular Los Angeles-based clothing company. She has released two children’s books with Simon & Schuster: Katarina Ballerina and Katarina Ballerina & The Victory Dance.
More on Tiler at www.tilerpeck.com. Tiler can be found on Instagram & TikTok via @TilerPeck.
Calvin Royal III

Calvin Royal III

Calvin Royal III is an acclaimed internationally recognized Principal classical ballet dancer. He began his ballet training at fourteen and a half, and received a scholarship from ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of ballet in 2007. Despite his unprecedented late start, he was promoted to the American Ballet Theatre’s Main Company in 2010, achieved Soloist in 2017, and Principal Dancer in 2020. This makes him the third African-American to achieve this honor in the 82-year history of the iconic Company, following Desmond Richardson appointed 25 years ago and Misty Copeland in 2015.
Calvin has performed star turns throughout ABT’s global tours, and at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City – as the title role in George Balanchine’s Apollo, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, The Prince in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, and has worked with notable choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Justin Peck, Benjamin Millepied, Alonzo King, Mark Morris, Wayne McGreggor, Kyle Abraham, Michelle Dorrance, Jamar Roberts, and many more.
Calvin was a finalist at the Clive Barnes Awards, the winner of the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship, a cover star of Dance Magazine in July 2020, and was the 2020/21 Artist in Residence at the Vail Dance Festival in Vail, Colorado. He is represented by IMG Models and has been featured in global campaigns for GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Target, Ralph Lauren, Mavi Jeans, Canali, and has partnered with Deckers Brands, HOKA and The Luxury Collection hotels. Follow Calvin on Instagram & TikTok @calvinroyaliii
Cory Stearns

Cory Stearns

Born on Long Island, New York, Cory Stearns began his classical training at the age of five with Mme. Valia Seiskaya at the Seiskaya Ballet. At age fifteen, he participated in the Youth America Grand Prix and was offered a full scholarship to The Royal Ballet School in London. Stearns performed in Madrid, Moscow, Milan, Düsseldorf and London while at The Royal, and appeared with Kylie Minogue in her music video Chocolate in 2004. Upon graduating from The Royal Ballet School with honors, he received, for the second year, the Dame Ruth Railton Award for excellence in dance.
Stearns joined the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company in September 2004, the main Company as an apprentice in January 2005 and became a member of the corps de ballet in January 2006. He was appointed a Soloist in January 2009 and a Principal Dancer in January 2011.
Stearns repertory with the Company includes The Man in AfterEffect, Solor in La Bayadère, The Ballet Dancer in The Bright Stream, a featured role in Brief Fling, Her Prince Charming in Cinderella, Conrad in Le Corsaire, Daphnis in Daphnis and Chloe, Basilio and Espada in Don Quixote, Oberon in The Dream, a leading role in Études, Second Sailor in Fancy Free, Colas in Las Fille mal gardée, Kaschei in Firebird. Baron in Gaîté Parisienne, Albrecht in Giselle, Astrologer in The Golden Cockerel, Grand Pas Classique, Her Lover in Jardin aux Lilas, Armand Duval in Lady of the Camellias, The Leaves Are Fading pas de deux, Des Grieux in Manon, Beliaev in A Month in the Country, His Friend in The Moor’s Pavane, the Nutcracker-Prince in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, Onegin in Onegin, Iago and a Carnival Dancer in Othello, Other Dances, Man From the House Opposite in Pillar of Fire, Romeo and Paris in Romeo and Juliet, the Terrestrial in Shadowplay, Prince Désiré in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Désiré, the Celtic Prince and a Fairy Knight in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Siegfried and von Rothbart in Swan Lake, Act III, Juliet, James in La Sylphide, the Poet in Les Sylphides, Orion and Apollo in Sylvia, Prospero in The Tempest, Prince Coffee in Whipped Cream, The Awakening Pas de Deux, leading roles in Allegro Brillante, Duo Concertant, Études, Mozartiana Monotones II, Raymonda Divertissements and With a Chance of Ran and roles in The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Citizen, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Duets, Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once, In the Upper Room, The Leaves Are Fading, Overgrown Path, Mozartiana, Rabbit and Rogue, Raymonda Divertissements, Symphony in C and Thirteen Diversions.
Stearns created roles in AFTERITE, From Here On Out, Her Notes, One of Three, Piano Concerto #1, Private Light and I Feel The Earth Move.
Stearns won the 2009 Erik Bruhn Prize for best male dancer.
Devon Teuscher

Devon Teuscher

Devon Teuscher began her ballet training at the age of nine under Deanna Doty of the Champaign Urbana Ballet Academy in Champaign, IL. When her family moved to Vermont, she continued her training at the Vermont Ballet Theatre School in Essex, Vermont under the direction of Alex and Kirsten Nagiba. At the age of eleven, Teuscher attended The Kirov Ballet Academy summer intensive. She also attended the Pacific Northwest Ballet summer intensive on full scholarship for two years.
From 2002 to 2006 Teuscher attended American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive, and was a National Training Scholar from 2003 to 2006. In January 2005 at the age of 15, Teuscher relocated to New York City to dance at American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School on full scholarship.
Teuscher joined ABT Studio Company in 2006. She joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in December 2007 and the corps de ballet in June 2008. She became a Soloist in August 2014 and Principal Dancer in September 2017.
Teuscher was nominated for the Clive Barnes Award in 2014 and received the Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship in 2016.
Byron Tittle

Byron Tittle

At a young age, Byron Tittle began tap dancing with David Rider and the American Tap Dance Foundation in his hometown of New York. Determined to be a multi-faceted artist, he trained weekly at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway in other disciplines: ballet, jazz, hip-hop foundations, modern, and dancehall. Byron is a co-captain of Dorrance Dance, touring with the tap dance company for the last decade. He is humbled to have been a featured dancer with Hugh Jackman’s 2019 “The Man, The Music, The Show,” touring The United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and in Jon M. Chu’s soon-to premiere feature film “In the Heights.” He is also a recipient of a 2019 Princess Grace Foundation Dance Fellowship Award.
Melissa Toogood

Melissa Toogood

Melissa Toogood is a Sydney and New York based Dancer, Teacher, Stager, Coach and sometimes Choreographer. She is a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) winning Performer. She is Rehearsal Director, Dancer and Artistic Associate of Pam Tanowitz Dance. She was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, is a 2013 & 2015 Merce Cunningham Fellow, has taught Cunningham Technique internationally since 2007 and is a licensed Stager of Merce Cunningham’s work. She has performed with Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, Kimberly Bartosik/Daela, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Reiner, the Stephen Petronio Company, Sally Silvers & Dancers, The Bang Group:Tap Lab, Christopher Williams and many others. Her own work has been commissioned by the Boston Ballet and New York Theater Ballet. Dance Initiative brought her to the Launchpad in Carbondale, CO in 2022 to further her choreographic exploration and she received a residency in Sydney, Australia this year as part of Constant Relay. This is Melissa’s 9th season at the Vail Dance Festival.
James Whiteside

James Whiteside

James Whiteside is redefining the meaning of multihyphenate as a principal dancer and choreographer for the American Ballet Theater, hilarious pop music performer, drag queen, host of the “Front Row” podcast, and author of “Center Center”.
He began his ballet training at age nine at the D’Valda & Sirico Dance and Music Centre in Fairfield, CT. After completing his training, he was a principal dancer with Boston Ballet until 2012 and has been a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre since 2013, dancing principal roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Giselle, and many more. Additionally, Whiteside has choreographed for pop stars Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift. He continues to choreograph for music videos, commercials, film and ballet including New American Romance and City of Women for American Ballet Theatre and Marilyn’s Funeral for The Juilliard School.
Off the ABT stage, Whiteside published his first book, “Center Center: A Funny, Sexy, Sad Almost Memoir of a Boy in Ballet”. He also performs pop music under the stage name JbDubs. He writes and produces his own music and choreographs his performances and music videos, which have viewership in the millions. Whiteside’s social media channels have nearly one million followers and his sponsorships include brands such as St. Germain, Sonos, Uber, and more. He also hosts his own popular podcast, “Front Row with James Whiteside.” Whiteside has completed Harvard Business School’s Crossover Into Business program.