International Evenings of Dance II

Aran Bell

Aran Bell was born in Bethesda, Maryland. He began studying ballet at age four, receiving the majority of his early training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and with Denys Ganio in Rome, Italy. He has performed in galas throughout Europe and the United States. Bell was featured in the 2011 film First Position: A Ballet Documentary. Bell joined the ABT Studio Company in September 2014, joined the main Company as an apprentice in May 2016 and became a member of the corps de ballet in March 2017.

Isabella Boylston

India Bradley

India Bradley is a member of New York City Ballet’s Corps de Ballet. She was born in Detroit, Michigan and began her dance training at the age of four at The Link School of the Arts in Troy, Michigan. At the age of eleven, she attended the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet in Novi, Michigan, under the direction of Sergey Rayevitskey.

Ms. Bradley attended the summer program at Dance Theatre of Harlem in 2012, and entered DTH’s Professional Training Program under the direction of Andrea Long that fall.

She attended the 2014 summer session at the School of American Ballet, NYCB’s official school, and enrolled as a full-time student later that year.

Ms. Bradley was named an apprentice in August 2017 and joined the Company as a member of the Corps de Ballet in August 2018.

Lil Buck

Chun Wai Chan

Mr. Chan was born in Guangdong, China, in 1992 and trained at the Guangzhou Art School from 2004 to 2010. In 2010 he was finalist at the Prix de Lausanne, Switzerland, which earned him a full scholarship to study with Houston Ballet Academy. Chan joined the corps de ballet of Houston Ballet in 2012 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2017. In 2020, Chan was among the finalists of Hunan TV’s “Dance Smash”. 

Chan joined NYCB as a soloist in 2021 and was promoted to principal dancer the following year, making him the company’s first Chinese principle since its founding in 1948. Most recently, Forbes China included Chan in their “30 under 30” list and he was featured on the cover of Dance magazine for May 2023. (@chunner)

Kate Davis

Kate Davis is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She studied at the Manhattan School of Music and has spent over a decade performing various musical styles at a wide range of venues across New York City, from rock clubs to Lincoln Center. In 2023, she released an album titled “Fish Bowl” through Anti Records. Recently, she relocated to her hometown of Portland, Oregon, to work as a music-thanatologist.

Michelle Dorrance

Michelle Dorrance

Denys Drozdyuk

Denys Drozdyuk was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine where he started dancing at the age of 4. From then on, he has been continuously trained in ballroom dance. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance from The Juilliard School and a Master of Arts Degree in Dance Education from New York University.

Together with Antonina Skobina, Denys co-founded a ballroom dance performance duet, “DNA.” He is also the co-founder of DNA Dance Academy, Manhattan’s first ballroom dance school dedicated specifically to children.

Denys participated on NBC’s TV show World of Dance for two seasons and was a finalist on the Canadian TV show Revolution. He is also a winner of So You Think You Can Dance Canada television show.

Some of his ballroom dance achievements include: 3-Time World Ballroom Champion, 3-Time USA National Ballroom Dance Champion, 7-Time German National Ballroom Dance Champion, 3-Time Canadian National Ballroom Dance Champion, and Blackpool Dance Festival Winner.

Denys performs frequently as a Guest Artist with the Stars of American Ballet, and in various international ballet galas, festivals, and productions worldwide.

Denys is the recipient of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Choreography, CUNY Dance Initiative Residency, Green Box Arts Residency, and was featured in Vogue (USA and International editions). He also teaches workshops and master classes throughout the world.

Philip Duclos

Philip Duclos is a soloist with The Royal Danish Ballet. He joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2022, and was promoted to soloist in 2025. He has danced roles such as Prince Desiré in Christopher Wheeldon’s Sleeping Beauty, one of the principal men in Harald Lander’s Études, and Melancholic in George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. He has also danced featured roles in Wayne McGregor’s Dante Project, Balanchine’s Scotch Symphony, Jerome Robbins’ The Four Seasons, Gregory Dean’s Cinderella and Gotta Dance, John Neumeier’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Nikolaj Hübbe’s Raymonda and Don Quixote. He was also awarded the Ballettens Venner Talent Prize in the spring of 2025.

Robbie Fairchild

ROBBIE FAIRCHILD made his Tony nominated Broadway debut in 2015 as Jerry Mulligan in the Tony Award-winning musical An American in Paris, which he reprised in London’s West End in 2017. He was awarded the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World, National Dance and Astaire Award for this performance and was nominated for the Evening Standard and Drama League Awards. From 2009 to 2017, Fairchild performed as a Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet. His other theater credits include Monster in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (Signature Theater, Chita Rivera Award), Harry Beaton in Brigadoon (New York City Center), Will Parker in Oklahoma! (Royal Albert Hall, London), Mike Costa in A Chorus Line(Hollywood Bowl), and Bill Calhoun in Kiss Me Kate (Roundabout Theater Company’s 2017 Gala). Television: Étoile (Prime Video), Soundtrack (Netflix), Mixtape (FOX Pilot), Julie’s Greenroom (Netflix), Oklahoma! (BBC Proms), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Carousel Boy in NY Philharmonic’s Carousel (PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center), Dancing With The Stars, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Live with Kelly and Michael, CBS Sunday Morning, and 60 Minutes. Film: Tom Hooper’s Cats, An American in Paris Live (West End Production), The Chaperone and NY Export: Opus Jazz. Represented by CAA. @robbiefairchild

Johnny Gandelsman

Elijah Geolina // Scholar-In-Residence

Geolina joined ABT Studio Company in September 2023 under the artistic direction of Sascha Radetsky. In ABT Studio Company, he has created roles in ballets by Amy Hall Garner and James Whiteside and performed in new ballets by Jamar Roberts, Houston Thomas, Hope Boykin, Brady Farrar, and Lauren Lovette. Geolina’s repertoire with ABT Studio Company also includes the Tarantella by George Balanchine, Neapolitan dance from Swan Lake and Alexei Ratmansky’s The Seasons pas de deux. He has performed in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker with the main Company of American Ballet Theatre. 

Rhiannon Giddens

Rhiannon Giddens has made a singular, iconic career out of stretching her brand of folk music, with its miles-deep historical roots and contemporary sensibilities, into just about every field imaginable. A two-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer and multi-instrumentalist, MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, Pulitzer Prize winner, and composer of opera, ballet, and film, Giddens has centered her work around the mission of lifting up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been overlooked or erased, and advocating for a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins through art.

Giddens has released three albums under her own name and two in collaboration with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, all on Nonesuch Records. American Railroad, her first album in collaboration with the Silkroad Ensemble, was released in November 2024, and her most recent album, a collaboration with Justin Robinson, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, released this past April.

A founding member of the landmark Black string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, and the all-female banjo supergroup, Our Native Daughters, Giddens is as much a curator as a creator. She is the current Artistic Director of the Yo-Yo Ma-founded Silkroad Ensemble, hosts a TV show on PBS, My Music with Rhiannon Giddens, and has hosted two podcasts (Aria Code from New York City’s NPR affiliate station WQXR, which ran for three seasons, and American Railroad from Silkroad). Giddens has published two children’s books and written and performed music for the soundtrack of Red Dead Redemption II, one of the best-selling video games of all time. She appeared as a recurring cast member on ABC’s hit drama Nashville and as a music history expert on Ken Burns’ Country Music series on PBS.

This year, she launched her own music festival in Durham, NC called Biscuits & Banjos, to celebrate Black culture outside the mainstream. As Pitchfork once said, “few artists are so fearless and so ravenous in their exploration” —a journey that has led to NPR naming her one of its 25 Most Influential Women Musicians of the 21st Century and to American Songwriter calling her “one of the most important musical minds currently walking the planet.”

Joseph Gordon

Joseph Gordon was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and began his dance training at the age of five at The Phoenix Dance Academy.

Mr. Gordon began studying at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, during the 2006 summer course and enrolled as a full-time student that fall.

In August of 2011, Mr. Gordon became an apprentice with NYCB, and in July of 2012, he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet.

In February 2017, Mr. Gordon was promoted to soloist and in October 2018, he was promoted to principal dancer.

Photo by Mark Mann.

Daniel Guzman // Scholar-In-Residence

Daniel Guzman began his training in Margarita Island, Venezuela under the direction of Martha Gomez, Artistic Director of Ballet de la Mar. He won numerous competitions in Venezuela and after graduation from Ballet de la Mar, he moved to train in the USA. He was the gold medalist at the Youth America Grand Prix 2023 Finals for his performance in Flames of Paris, winning a contract with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre Studio Company along with many scholarships nationally. He is also the 2023 Grand Prix winner at the Universal Ballet Competiton. He currently is a member of the ABT Studio Company under the direction of Sascha Radetsky.

Brooks Landegger

Chloe Misseldine

Chloe Misseldine began her classical training at Orlando Ballet School.  She attended ABT Summer Intensives in Orange County, California, and New York City as a National Training Scholar from 2016–2018.  In 2016, she performed a traditional Chinese fan dance called Mo Li Hua in the CCTV New Year’s Gala known as the Beijing Spring Festival Gala (Chunwan), broadcast to over 700 million viewers.  At age 15, Misseldine earned second place in the 2017 Youth America Grand Prix New York City Finals and performed at the YAGP “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow” Gala.  In 2018, she was named a finalist at the Prix de Lausanne and joined American Ballet Theatre Studio Company.

Misseldine became an apprentice with American Ballet Theatre in December 2019 and joined the corps de ballet in September 2021. She was promoted to Soloist in September 2022 and to Principal Dancer in July 2024. Her repertoire includes a Flower Girl in Don Quixote, Myrta in Giselle, Rosaura in Like Water for Chocolate, Night Falls, Clara, the Princess, one of the Nutcracker’s Sisters, and the Spanish dance in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, Queen of Babylon in Of Love and Rage, Tatiana in Onegin, Rosaline and Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet, Ice in The Seasons, Odette/Odile, the pas de trois, and a big swan in Swan Lake, “Becomings” in Woolf Works, leading roles in Ballet Imperial, La Boutique, and Sylvia Pas de Deux, and featured roles in Bernstein in a Bubble, La Follia Variations, Petite Mort, and Songs of Bukovina.

Takumi Miyake

Courtesy of American Ballet Theatre

Takumi Miyake was born in Kagawa, Japan, and began his training under his grandmother and mother at the age of three. He has won first place in many major national competitions in Japan. In 2017, he took part in Youth American Grand Prix where he won first place and received a full scholarship to The Royal Ballet School. He studied at The Royal Ballet School from September 2017 to July 2022, having received The London Ballet Circle Dame Ninette Award for the most outstanding male graduate of The Royal Ballet School that year.  

Miyake joined ABT Studio Company in September 2022. In 2023, he performed the Flames of Paris pas de deux as part of Natalia Osipova’s Force of Nature Gala at New York City Center and partnered Maria Khoreva in the Le Corsaire pas de trois at the Nervi International Dance Festival in Italy.  

Miyake became an apprentice with the main Company in November 2023 and joined the corps de ballet in July 2024. His repetoire includes Principal role in Études, Chinese dance in Nutcracker and the Neapolitan Dance in Swan Lake and roles in all the Company’s full-length ballets.

Mayfield Myers

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.

Michael Nicholas

A “long-admired figure on the New York scene” (New Yorker), cellist Michael Nicolas enjoys a diverse career as chamber musician, soloist, recording artist, and improvisor. His eclectic tastes and adventurous spirit have led him to forge a musical path of uncommon breadth, where his activities range from performing the masterpieces of the past in the world’s most prestigious concert halls, to free improvisation in downtown New York experimental venues, to working with contemporary composers of all styles, pushing the boundaries of musical expression and meaning.

The ensembles Michael plays in illustrate his commitment to diversity. He is the cellist of the intrepid and genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider, which has drawn praise from classical, world music, and rock critics alike. As a member of the acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), he has worked with countless composers from around the world, premiering and recording dozens of new works. Another group, Third Sound, which Michael helped found, made its debut with an historic residency at the 2015 Havana Contemporary Music Festival, in Cuba.

As a soloist, Michael performs recitals and concertos across the globe. His album Transitions, available on the Sono Luminus label, was named Q2 Music Album of the Week at WQXR upon release, and it has since garnered critical acclaim across North America. His chamber music playing can also be found on the Naxos, Tzadik, and Universal Korea labels.

Of mixed French-Canadian and Taiwanese heritage, Michael was born in Canada, and currently resides in New York City. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School.

Justin Peck

JUSTIN PECK is a two-time Tony Award winning choreographer, director, filmmaker, and dancer based in New York City. He is currently the acting Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor of New York City Ballet.  Peck has created and developed over 50 dance and theater works for stages around the world, including work for Broadway, the Palais Garnier, the Sydney Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Lincoln Center.  He has created extensively for film, most notably choreographing Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021).  In 2024, Peck directed and choreographed the original Broadway musical Illinoise.  In 2025, Peck co-choreographed the Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club in collaboration with Patricia Delgado.  Peck’s honors include the Tony Award for Best Choreography for Carousel (2018) and Illinoise (2024), the National Arts Award (2018), the Golden Plate Honor from the Academy of Achievement (2019), the Bessie Award for Rodeo (2015), and the World Choreography Award for the film West Side Story (2021).  

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 numerous 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.

Brooklyn Rider

Johnny Gandelsman, violin
Colin Jacobsen, violin
Nicholas Cords, viola
Michael Nicolas, cello

“A string quartet of boundless imagination.”—NPR

Celebrating twenty years of shared musical exploration, Brooklyn Rider originated in a living room, four friends in search of an outlet for their curiosities. Inspired by the probing spirit of Germany’s pre-WW1 artistic collective Der Blaue Reiter, they recognized parallels with their creative community in Brooklyn at the time and began to build projects. In the following two decades, Brooklyn Rider has undertaken a staggering amount of work, carving a singular space in the world of string quartets. Through thoughtful programmatic framing, deep-rooted collaborations, and innovative commissioning projects, Brooklyn Rider has used the medium at every point in their adventurous journey as a vehicle for exploration and discovery. Inspired equally by the rich repertoire of the past and the limitless canvas of new creation, Brooklyn Rider seeks to create meaningful and memorable experiences for their audiences.

To mark the twenty year milestone, a wide range of projects are on the horizon for 2025 and beyond that celebrate the key elements of their work. Honoring a long-standing relationship with the string quartets of Philip Glass (String Quartet # 3, Mishima was on Brooklyn Rider’s first public program), Brooklyn Rider has embarked on the first ever retrospective of the composer’s complete works for the medium. Initially presented by the Yale Schwarzman Center this past fall, the retrospective is next happening in May 2025 at the Met Cloisters in NYC before heading further afield. A major commission by Gabriela Lena Frank, Frida’s Dreams is due for the 2025-26 season. A forthcoming recording, The Four Elements (slated for May 2025) servesas a dual metaphor for the complex inner world of the string quartet and the future of planet Earth, the latest example of the kind of programmatic concept long associated with Brooklyn Rider. The quartet expands their reach into the orchestral world in future seasons with a new work for quartet and orchestra by Nico Muhly, to be presented by a wide ranging consortium of orchestras across Europe and North America. Lastly, a special concert at Tanglewood this August will feature the Schubert Cello Quintet as the centerpiece alongside the quartet’s friend and mentor Yo-Yo Ma.

The beginning days of Brooklyn Rider’s history included numerous self-produced concerts events, and the quartet has since cherished the live performance experience in its many guises. In more recent years, the quartet has made regular appearances in many of the major musical centers of North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia – from Zurich’s Tonhalle, Carnegie Hall, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Sydney Opera House, the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, and London’s Wigmore Hall. Comfortable in a wide range of performance outlets, they have also appeared on the main stage of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, at Austin’s South By Southwest Music Festival, and in two NPR Tiny Desk Concerts. Brooklyn Rider has been the long-standing resident string quartet of the Vail Dance Festival, collaborating with many of the finest dancers and choreographers of our time. They have also been privileged to use the balming powers of music at deeply challenging moments along the way. The quartet made a special appearance at a Buddhist Temple in the decimated fishing village of Kesennuma, Japan in the months following the devastating 2011 tsunami. Most recently, Brooklyn Rider played an all Glass concert at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills in the midst of the 2025 Los Angeles area fires.

Brooklyn Rider has remained steadfast in their commitment to generate new music for string quartet at every phase of their history. Through commissioning, collaborative exploration, and the inimitable works of BR’s own Colin Jacobsen, the quartet has left a lasting contribution tothe repertoire. Shared at the height of the US lockdown, the Grammy®- nominated recording and commissioning project Healing Modes (In A Circle Records) was described by The New Yorker as a project which “…could not possibly be more relevant or necessary than it is currently.” The upcoming season will unveil a new program called Citizenship Notes with commissioned works by Don Byron, Ted Hearne, and Angélica Negrón.

Brooklyn Rider has had a voracious appetite for collaboration since their inception, encapsulating their wide-ranging projects and programmatic frames and giving rise to NPR Music’s observation that Brooklyn Rider is “recreating the 300-year-old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble.” The Butterfly (In A Circle Records), an album which the Irish Times described as “a masterclass in risk-taking,” explored a collaboration with the legendary Irish fiddler Martin Hayes. The 2021-22 season boasted two unique partnerships: one with Israeli mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital, and the other a new chapter of work with Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter (following So Many Things on Naïve Records, 2016). 2022’s The Stranger (Avie Records) with tenor Nicholas Phan was nominated for a 2023 Grammy® award and made numerous best-of lists, including The New Yorker. In fall 2018, Brooklyn Rider released Dreamers on Sony Music Masterworks with Mexican jazz vocalist Magos Herrera which topped charts and garnered a Grammy® nomination for best arrangement (Gonzalo Grau’s “Niña”). Other collaborators include former NYC Ballet prima ballerina Wendy Whelan, banjo icon Béla Fleck, jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, and the Iranian kemancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor.

Calvin Royal III

Calvin Royal III is an acclaimed internationally recognized Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre. After starting ballet at age 14, he gained recognition as a finalist in the Youth America Grand Prix in New York City, which led to a scholarship at ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Within two years, he was promoted to ABT II, and his subsequent growth earned him a position with ABT Main Company in 2010, nominations for the Clive Barnes Award and the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship. Calvin has performed star turns throughout his tours with ABT worldwide including the ABT seasons 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, Count Albrecht in Giselle, and has worked with notable choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Justin Peck, Helen Pickett, Benjamin Millepied, Alonzo King, Mark Morris, Wayne McGreggor, Kyle Abraham, Michelle Dorrance, Jamar Roberts, and many more. In 2017, he was promoted to Soloist, and in 2020, Calvin made history as the third African-American to become Principal Dancer in ABT’s 81-year history. Calvin was the 2020/21 Artist-in-Residence at Vail Dance Festival, and in 2024, he curated and co-produced the Joyce Theater’s Ballet Festival program UNITE. His journey reflects resilience, mentorship, and the transformative power of dance. For more visit calvinroyaliii.com and follow Calvin on all social media platforms @calvinroyaliii

Ben Rudisin

Ben Rudisin was born in Woodbridge, Virginia and trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and Houston Ballet II in Texas. Ben joined The National Ballet of Canada as a RBC Apprentice in 2013 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2021.

Most recently, Ben made his debut in the title role of Romeo and Juliet, as Adam in the world premiere of MADDADDAM by Wayne McGregor and performed in the Canadian premieres of David Dawson’s Anima Animus and Alonzo King’s The Collective Agreement. An elegant dancer with pristine technique, he excels in roles such as Diaghilev in Nijinsky, Siegfried and Rothbart in Swan Lake, Prince Gremin in Onegin and the male lead in Being and Nothingness as well as Icicle in The Nutcracker, The Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and L’Allumeur in Le Petit Prince. His repertoire includes roles in The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Cinderella, The Winter’s Tale, Nijinsky,  Anna Karenina, The Merry Widow, Manon, Frame by Frame, A Streetcar Named Desire, La Sylphide, The Four Seasons, The Concert, Chaconne, Allegro Brillante, Symphony #9, Carousel (A Dance), The Second Detail, Approximate Sonata 2016, Chroma, Genus, Angels’ Atlas, Emergence, Cacti, Petite Mort, Paz de la Jolla, Night, Orpheus Alive, The Dreamers Ever Leave You and Soul. 

Michael Scales

Michael Scales is a musician for dance in New York City, where he serves as pianist at New York City Ballet, the School of American Ballet, and formerly at American Ballet Theatre and New York Theatre Ballet. Michael is pianist for Vail Dance Festival, and has collaborated with Martha Graham Dance Company and Limón Dance Company. Michael has performed at numerous venues around New York City including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, NY City Center, the 92nd Street Y, Rockefeller Center, and in halls across the country and internationally. Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with Dr. Maria Asteriadou, and a Masters of Music degree from James Madison University, where he studied with Dr. Lori Piitz.

Caroline Shaw // Composer-In-Residence

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Caroline is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. This year’s projects include the score to “Fleishman is in Trouble” (FX/Hulu), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), the score to Josephine Decker’s “The Sky Is Everywhere” (A24/Apple), music for the National Theatre’s production of “The Crucible” (dir. Lyndsey Turner), Justin Peck’s “Partita” with NY City Ballet, a new stage work “LIFE” (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust), the premiere of “Microfictions Vol. 3” for NY Philharmonic and Roomful of Teeth, a live orchestral score for Wu Tsang’s silent film “Moby Dick” co-composed with Andrew Yee, two albums on Nonesuch (“Evergreen” and “The Blue Hour”), the score for Helen Simoneau’s dance work “Delicate Power”, tours of Graveyards & Gardens (co-created immersive theatrical work with Vanessa Goodman), and tours with So Percussion featuring songs from “Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part” (Nonesuch), amid occasional chamber music appearances as violist (Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, La Jolla Music Society). Caroline has written over 100 works in the last decade, for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, LA Phil, Philharmonia Baroque, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Aizuri Quartet, The Crossing, Dover Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Miro Quartet, I Giardini, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Ariadne Greif, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Britt Festival, and the Vail Dance Festival. She has contributed production to albums by Rosalía, Woodkid, and Nas. Her work as vocalist or composer has appeared in several films, tv series, and podcasts including The Humans, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, Beyonce’s Homecoming, Tár, Dolly Parton’s America, and More Perfect. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary. 

Antonina Skobina

Antonina Skobina was born in Mariupol, Ukraine. She is a 3-Time US National Ballroom Dance Champion and a Vice-World Champion. She is also a Blackpool Dance Festival Winner, which is the most prestigious ballroom dance competition in the world.

Together with Denys Drozdyuk, Antonina co-founded a collaborative ballroom dance performance duet, “DNA.” She is also the co-founder of DNA Dance Academy, Manhattan’s first ballroom dance school dedicated specifically to children.

Antonina participated on NBC’s hit television show World of Dance for two seasons and was a finalist on the Canadian TV show Revolution. She performs frequently as a Guest Artist with the Stars of American Ballet and at various international ballet galas, festivals, and productions worldwide.

Antonina is the recipient of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Choreography, CUNY Dance Initiative Residency, Green Box Arts Residency and was featured in Vogue (USA and International editions). In addition to dancing, she has a great passion for acting and is a graduate of the New York Film Academy. She also teaches workshops and master classes throughout the world.

KJ Takahashi

Stephanie Terasaki

Ryan Tomash

Born in Toronto, Canada, Ryan trained at Canada’s National Ballet School and joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 2017.

He was promoted to Soloist in 2021 and to Principal Dancer in 2022.

He also danced as a guest in companies such as Hamburg Ballet, Tivoli Ballet, and Ballet Estable Del Teatro Argentino de La Plata.

Ryan has performed a vast repertoire of classical and contemporary choreographies and has also created his own works.

He is the recipient of the Positanio Premia la Danza for Dancer of the Year in 2023, the Ole Norlyng Talent Prize in 2021, and the Minister Erna Hamilton Scholarship for Science and the Arts.

In 2023, Ryan was knighted by the Queen of Denmark. He went on to win the Henrik Lydings Talent Prize and the Reumert Award for Dancer of the Year in 2025.

Ryan also graduated from the Royal Danish Ballet’s choreography course, Koreorama.

James Whiteside

Joel Wenhardt

New York based Joel Wenhardt is a jazz pianist, and collaborator. While completing his studies at Juilliard (BM ‘18, MM ‘23) he has become a regular presence on the Jazz scene, as well an active participant in multi-medium productions. He has played or recorded with Paul Simon, Wynton Marsalis, Veronica Swift, Caroline Shaw, Claire Chase, and Brooklyn Rider as well as dancers from Juilliard, NYC Ballet, ABT, Alvin Ailey and more. Currently, he is Musical Directing at the McKittrick Hotel, where he can be found in the Manderley Bar leading The Nightingales. This will be Joel’s 4th time in Vail for the dance festival, and is grateful to call this community his artistic family.