NOW: Premieres

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).  

Harrison Coll

Harrison Coll is a New York City Ballet Soloist. Born in Manhattan, New York, he began his dance training locally at the age of 4 and in 2003, he entered the School of American Ballet. In November 2012, Mr. Coll became an apprentice with NYCB and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in August 2013. He was promoted to soloist in October 2018. Since joining the Company, Coll has performed featured roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Mauro Bigonzetti, Andrea Miller, Justin Peck, Troy Schumacher, and Myles Thatcher.  

Daisy Kate Jacobson

Catherine Hurlin

Born in New York City, Catherine Hurlin joined ABT as an apprentice in December 2013 and the corps de ballet in June 2014.  She was promoted to Soloist in September 2018 and to Principal In 2022. Her repertoire with the Company includes principal roles such as Kitri in Don Quixote, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Juliet in Sir Kenneth MacMillian’s Romeo and Juliet, Giselle and Myrta in Giselle, Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon, Lead Maiden in Firebird, and created the principal role Calirhoe in Alexi Ratmanski’s Of Love and Rage. She also performed leading roles in works by Twyla Tharp, Wayne McGregor, Jessica Lang, Mark Morris, Michelle Dorrance, Benjamin Millepied, Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, George Balanchine and Alexei Ratmansky.

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)

Roman Mejia

Roman Mejia is a Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas and began studying ballet at age 3 with his mother and father. At age 13, he entered the Mejia Ballet Academy. He attended summer courses at the School of American Ballet, NYCB’s official school, in 2014 and 2015, before entering SAB full-time for the 2015 winter term. In August 2017, he became an apprentice with NYCB and he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in November 2017. He was promoted to Soloist in October 2021 and to Principal Dancer in February 2023. His repertory with NYCB includes featured roles in numerous ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon, and he has also originated featured roles in ballets by Kyle Abraham, Silas Farley, Edwaard Liang, Peck, Ratmansky, and Gianna Reisen. 

Outside of NYCB, Mejia was the 2022 Vail Dance Festival Artist in Residence, and he has appeared in Twyla Tharp’s TWYLA NOW and with Tiler Peck at New York City Center and Sadler’s Wells in London.  

In 2019, Dance Magazine featured Mejia as one of their “25 To Watch,” and he was also the recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Dance Fellowship. In 2020, Mejia was a finalist for the Clive Barnes Award. 

Melissa Toogood // Artist-In-Residence

Melissa Toogood has appeared on the Vail stage since 2015. She is a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) winning, internationally recognized dancer and master teacher celebrated for her work most notably with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, where she was one of the last dancers to work directly with Cunningham himself. A 2013 and 2015 Merce Cunningham Fellow and official stager for the Merce Cunningham Trust, Melissa has taught his technique worldwide since 2007 and continues to stage his work for renowned companies including the Stephen Petronio Company and the Washington Ballet. As a longtime dancer with choreographer Pam Tanowitz, she has served as Rehearsal Director and Artistic Associate for Tanowitz’s company, assisting on new works for major institutions such as The Australian Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and The Royal Ballet. Melissa’s freelance career spans performances with leading artists including Tanowitz, Kyle Abraham, Kimberly Bartosik, Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Sally Silvers, and the Petronio Company, alongside her own choreographic commissions for Boston Ballet, New York Theater Ballet, and the Vail Dance Festival. She teaches Cunningham Technique at Sydney Dance Company and continues to mentor the next generation of dancers. A prominent voice in the dance community, Melissa has lectured, written for publications like Dance Magazine, and appeared in several films and exhibitions, including the acclaimed Cunningham 3D film.

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

Kyle Abraham

KYLE ABRAHAM (Founder and Artistic Director, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham; He/Him) has premiered his work to international audiences and acclaim since 2006. Abraham has been proled in Document Journal, Vanity Fair, Ebony, Harper’s Bazaar, Kinfolk, O Magazine, Paper, Surface, Vogue & Vogue UK, W Magazine, among many other publications. He is the proud recipient of a National Dance Critics Award for Choreography (2024 – Are You in Your Feelings / Alvin Ailey Dance Theater); Dance Magazine Award (2022); Princess Grace Statue Award (2018); Doris Duke Award (2016) and The MacArthur Fellowship (2013). In addition to performing and developing new works for his company, Abraham has been commissioned by a wide variety of dance companies, including American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The National Ballet of Cuba, New York City Ballet, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, and The Royal Ballet. In 2024, Abraham premiered three new works to much acclaim, the evening-length work, Cassette Vol. 1 in Hamburg, Germany; Mercurial Son for American Ballet Theater in October and in December, “Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful” at the Park Avenue Armory, which Jennifer Homans of The New Yorker called “Extraordinary Dance Memoir.” Abraham has led and curated several performance series including the Danspace Project (2024 / 50th anniversary season) and Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City (2023, 2022), among others). In 2020, Abraham was the rst ever guest editor for Dance Magazine. He serves as the Claude and Alfred Mann Endowed Professor in Dance at The University of Southern California (USC) Glorya Kaufman School of Dance (2021-). Abraham sits on the advisory board for Dance Magazine and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the inaugural Black Genius Brain Trust, and the inaugural cohort of the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab, a partnership between the Prada Group, Theaster Gates Studio, Dorchester Industries, and Rebuild Foundation.

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.

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. 

Pam Tanowitz

Pam Tanowitz is a critically acclaimed choreographer and founder of Pam Tanowitz Dance.Quick-witted and rigorous, the New York-based choreographer and collaborator has steadily delineated her own dance language through decades of research and creation. She is currently the first-ever choreographer in residence at the Fisher Center at Bard in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Other honors include a 2020 Doris Duke Artist Award, 2019 Herb Alpert Award, 2017BAC Cage Cunningham Fellowship, 2016 and 2009 Bessie Awards, 2010 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award, 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, Hodder Fellowship, CBA Fellowship at New York University, and a New York City Center Choreography Fellowship. She has created for Australian Ballet, New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, the Royal Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Kennedy Center’s Ballet Across America, Juilliard Dance, Ballet Austin, and New York Theatre Ballet. Originally from New Rochelle, New York, Tanowitz holds degrees from Ohio State University and Sarah Lawrence College, and is a visiting guest artist at Rutgers University.

Spencer Lenain

Born in San Diego, California, Spencer Lenain began his dance training at age 7 at Ballet Arte where he was instructed by Erlends Zieminch and Sara Viale. He also attended nine summer intensives at American Ballet Theater, earning the National Training Scholar scholarship three times. He graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 2024 with a BFA in dance. He has performed at the Vail Dance Festival each of the last two years, and in the fall of 2024, he performed as Tybalt in LA Dance Project’s Romeo and Juliet. Spencer is also very active on social media where his ballet videos are featured on TikTok @spencerdancerrr and Instagram @spencerdancer. 

Isabella Boylston

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.

Sara Mearns

SARA MEARNS, Columbia, SC, principal dancer New York City Ballet since 2008. Originated roles with choreographers Justin Peck, Kyle Abraham, Alexei Ratmansky, Pam Tanowitz, Bobbi Jene Smith, Christopher Wheeldon, Guillaume Cote, Beth Gill, among others. Guest Performer: Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Cunningham Centennial Celebration, Jodi Melnick Dance, Bill T Jones/Lee Ming Wei, and Wang Ramirez. At NYCC, she starred in Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes, Encores! I Married An Angel, and Twyla Now as well as multiple Fall for Dances, and performed Dances of Isadora Duncan at Lincoln Center. At The Joyce in 2022, Sara performed a full evening with five world premier pieces, titled “A piece of Work”, awarded the Bessie Award for outstanding performer in 2018, awarded the Dance Magazine Award in 2019, and an Honorary Doctorate University of South Carolina in 2019. 

Adji Cissoko

Adji Cissoko was born and grew up in Munich, Germany, where she trained at the Ballet Academy Munich and graduated with a diploma in dance. Cissoko attended the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre in New York City on full scholarship before joining the National Ballet of Canada in 2010. In 2012, she was awarded the Patron Award of Merit by the Patrons’ Council Committee of The National Ballet of Canada. Cissoko joined LINES Ballet in 2014. Since then, she’s originated many central roles and guested for galas worldwide. Cissoko has given multiple master classes and taught classes around the world as part of the company’s outreach program. In 2020, she became certified in health/life coaching and ABT’s National Training Curriculum. Cissoko choreographed her first piece, “AZIZ,” for Ballet X in 2021. She is also a 2022 recipient of the Toulmin Fellowship and was the Artist-in-Residence for Vail Dance Festival in 2023. 

Tony Siqi Yun

The Canadian-born pianist Tony Siqi Yun, Gold Medalist at the inaugural China International Music Competition (2019) and recipient of the Rheingau Music Festival’s 2023 Lotto-Förderpreis, is rapidly establishing himself as a sought-after soloist and recitalist. Praised as a “poet of the keyboard” (Pianist Magazine), his performances have drawn acclaim for their thrilling artistry and “interpretive flashes that point to an emergent big personality: moments of grandness or deep expressivity” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Upcoming recital highlights include debut performances at Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London, Koerner Hall Toronto, the Ravinia Festival, and Davies Symphony Hall at the San Francisco Symphony. He will also return to the Vancouver Recital Society and Muziekcentrum Ghent in Belgium. Orchestral engagements feature his debut with the Louisville Orchestra under Robert Spano performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and a return to the Orchestre Métropolitain with Glass Marcano playing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Recent appearances include performances with the Nashville Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony, collaborating with conductors Giancarlo Guerrero, Daniel Harding, Jacek Kaspszyk, and Christoph König, among others.

In the 2023–24 season, Mr. Yun made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestre Métropolitain under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, following his 2022–23 debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Hamilton Philharmonic, and Rhode Island Philharmonic. Past recital engagements in North America include Stanford Live, La Jolla Music Society, the Gilmore Rising Stars Series, 92nd Street Y (New York), the Vancouver Recital Society, and Friends of Chamber Music Denver. In Europe, he has performed at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Muziekcentrum Ghent, among others.

Mr. Yun graduated from The Juilliard School in 2025 and will return as an Artist Diploma candidate. He is a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship and studies with Professors Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio.

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.

Olivia Bell

Olivia Bell is a corps de ballet member with New York City Ballet. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, she trained locally before being accepted to the School of American Ballet in 2018. While a student, Olivia originated a featured role in Gianna Reisen’s Signs. In 2022 Olivia became an apprentice with New York City Ballet and was then promoted to corps de ballet in 2023. As a corps member Olivia has performed featured roles in Kyle Abraham’s Love Letter on Shuffle, George Balanchine’s Swan Lake, Tiler Peck’s Concerto for Two Pianos, and Jerome Robbins Interplay.

Patricia Delgado

Jamar Roberts // Artist-In-Residence

Jamar Roberts returns to Vail this season as an Artist-In-Residence, after choreographing his first work for the Vail Dance Festival in 2021, and creating two additional new works for the 2023 Festival. Roberts is a prolific and highly in-demand choreographer who has made works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, Miami City Ballet, the Martha Graham Company, BalletX, The Juilliard School, Ailey 2, New York City Center’s Fall for Dance, and he also serves as a Creative Associate for The Juilliard School from 2023-2024. Roberts, a graduate of the New World School of the Arts and the Ailey School has danced for AAADT, Ailey II, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet, won the 2016 “Bessie” award for outstanding performer, and has performed as a guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London and made multiple television performance appearances. In 2020, the March on Washington Film Festival invited Roberts to create a dance on film tribute to the Honorable John Lewis. Other highlights include Works and Process at the Guggenheim, where he created the acclaimed short work on the film Cooped and A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time, which premiered on film in 2021 and was restaged for a live performance world premiere in 2022. Roberts was a director’s fellow at NYU’s Center for Ballet and the Arts in the 2020-21 season and he has also made a short film for the LA Opera entitled The First Bluebird in the Morning. His first narrative ballet, Resurrection, premiered at San Francisco Ballet in January 2023.

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.

Savannah Green

Savannah Green (Dancer) studied at Manhattan Youth Ballet and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. She graduated with a BFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2017, performing works by Jose Limon, Andrea Miller, and Anna Halprin. Savannah joined BalletX in 2020.

Frances Samson

Frances Lorraine Samson is a New York based artist originally from Toronto, Canada. She has been featured by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), TEDx and Harper’s Bazaar, and has had the honor of working for institutions such as The Juilliard School, SUNY Purchase College and the Danish National Academy of Music. Frances was a principal dancer with the Limón Dance Company from 2017-2023 and is currently on faculty for the Limón Institute. She has had the pleasure of collaborating with artists such as Kate Weare, Francesca Harper, Raúl Tamez, Kayla Farrish, Madeline Hollander and Aszure Barton. Frances most recently performed for Award-winning choreographers Twyla Tharp and Baye & Asa. She is the 2023 recipient of the Clive Barnes Award for Dance and is an unarmed actor combatant certified by The Society of American Fight Directors.

Stephanie Terasaki

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. She curated and directed the highly anticipated inaugural Artists at the Center for New York City Center that made it’s European debut as Turn It Out With Tiler Peck & Friend and received an Olivier Awards nomination. Most recently, she choreographed her first ballet for New York City Ballet, Concerto for Two Pianos. 

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. She has released two children’s books with Simon & Schuster: Katarina Ballerina and Katarina Ballerina & The Victory Dance. Most recently, Ms. Peck has been seen as a recurring guest star on Amazon Prime’s newest tv show Étoile. 

More on Tiler at www.tilerpeck.com. Tiler can be found on Instagram & TikTok via @TilerPeck.

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, Juilliard, Oregon Ballet Theater, Colorado Ballet, 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.

Michelle Dorrance

Michelle Dorrance

Kayla Mak

Kayla Mak (she/her) grew up in Rye Brook, NY and studied at Westchester Dance Academy and Ballet Academy East. As a BFA student at The Juilliard School under the direction of Alicia Graf Mack and Mario Alberto Zambrano, she performed works by Justin Peck, Caili Quan, Sidra Bell, Shen Wei, and Jamar Roberts, amongst others. Kayla is also currently a member of ABT Studio Company under the direction of Sascha Radetsky and is performing works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Houston Thomas, Yannick Lebrun, Kevin McKenzie and more. Kayla participated in NBC’s World of Dance and has had other professional performance opportunities with choreographer Juliano Nunes in Switzerland and Mexico. Mak is incredibly grateful for all who have supported her along the way and looks forward to her future in dance.

Mayfield Myers

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.

James Whiteside

Lil Buck

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.