“I can’t stress enough the Brigadoon quality of Vail,” says Damian Woetzel, artistic director of the Vail Dance Festival, referring to the mythical village that appears in the Scottish Highlands for one day every 100 years. “Artists arrive for a short time and coexist in this creative atmosphere.”
Luckily for dance fans, the Vail festival lasts 10 days and occurs annually. It’s a place where performances amid the wildflowers and pines of Colorado can ignite an even deeper appreciation of the art form. “The natural environment is so conducive to that sense of doing things in a fresh way,” says Woetzel, who also serves as president of the Julliard School and is a former star dancer with New York City Ballet. “I want a place where artists go to do things they don’t do in their everyday life.”
The Vail Dance Festival was established in 1989 as a seasonal residency for the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Woetzel took the reins in 2007 and helped transform it from a reliable showcase into a busy incubator by playing the role of matchmaker between dance artists from disparate styles. In past years he’s paired New York City Ballet star Tiler Peck with the Memphis jookin artist Lil Buck, and Michelle Dorrance, a venerated tap dancer, with Bill Irwin, a venerated clown.
“The intention is to foster something new,” Woetzel says. The mountainous location, with audiences picnicking under the moon with the Rockies in view, plays an integral part, allowing festivalgoers to think of dance more as an expression of nature rather than merely a genre of theater.
This year’s program, from July 28 to Aug. 7, exemplifies what Woetzel calls Vail’s “balance of history” by featuring the iconic Martha Graham Dance Co. along with a deep dive into the works and process of the revered choreographer George Balanchine.
But that balance tips in favor of the new, with 10 world premieres, including a pas de deux by Tiler Peck performed by American Ballet Theatre’s Cory Stearns and Devon Teuscher, a Jamar Roberts co-commission with BalletX, and an ensemble work by Kyle Abraham, a choreographer of unique fluidity and feeling. Other notable debuts include a dance by Vail’s artist-in-residence, Adji Cissoko, and a collaboration between City Ballet’s resident choreographer Justin Peck and Pulitzer Prize-winning Caroline Shaw, the festival’s composer-in-residence.
Just as nature is a key ingredient in experiencing dance in Vail, it also reframes the way audiences interact with the art form at Jacob’s Pillow, a verdant campus in the mountains of western Massachusetts, part of the Berkshires’ famous cultural corridor. Founded in 1933, its summer dance festival (where I sometimes serve as a scholar-in-residence) is the country’s oldest and has long been a pilgrimage given its role in the development of American modern dance. Even companies that frequently perform in cities look and feel more vivid there.
This year’s festival takes place from June 28 to Aug. 27 and boasts an eclectic curation of domestic and international artists, all of whom can be found wandering the wooded grounds by day and performing against a breathtaking vista or inside a charming, rustic barn by night. You might also encounter them unwinding after a show at the Pillow’s on-site pub.
One highlight will be the Pillow debut of the esteemed Dutch National Ballet (July 5-9) and its new member, Olga Smirnova. The mesmerizing former prima ballerina of the Bolshoi defected after Russia invaded Ukraine, becoming one of the country’s most high-profile artists to condemn the war.
Like Vail, the Pillow mixes modern dance mainstays, such as the Mark Morris Dance Group (June 28 to July 2), with daring contemporary artists, as exemplified by Germany’s Gauthier Dance (July 12-16). It also offers bespoke programs, such as a minifestival celebrating hip-hop dance (Aug. 2-6).
And if you find yourself in New York this summer, consider a day trip to the annual Fire Island Dance Festival (July 14-16), where the location brings an integral emotional wallop. There, on an outdoor stage facing the bay that separates the sand dunes from Long Island, notable Broadway, ballet and modern dancers perform works honoring the festival’s AIDS activist origins and exuberant spirit, all lit by the flames of a slowly setting sun.
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