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Summer 2012 11 Stars Who Make Our Summer Shine

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Rod Hanna Is

SUMMER 2012 $5.95 Volume 34, No.2 Genuine Steamboat Display through August 10, 2012 Travel| By Jennie Lay © John Deane Martha Graham Dance Company; Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch as Circe Dance That’s Worth the Drive Vail International Dance Festival

A tantalizing dance festival has grown up not a $20 ticket will secure a spot to see anything from the iconic far from Steamboat Springs over the past two decades. You’ll Martha Graham Dance Company (Thursday, Aug. 9), to two bypass cow towns like Phippsburg, Bond and McCoy en route nights with New York City Ballet Moves (Sunday and Monday, to performances that regularly grace iconic theaters from July 29-30), a two-year-old touring company of select dancers New York to Chicago, Moscow and Paris. from the legendary New York City Ballet. But this is still ballet in Vail, so settle in on the lawn During the festival’s 10 varied performances, you can see (maybe even with a picnic) and absorb the awe-inspiring the international champions of ballroom dance (Friday, Aug. beauty of some of the world’s most spectacular dancers and 10) or television sensations from “America’s Best Dance Crew,” cutting-edge choreography. “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing with the Stars” The Vail International Dance Festival brings the dance (Saturday, Aug. 11). Twenty bucks will put you in the audience world to our doorstep. The 2012 festival is July 29-Aug. 11, and for an evening of premieres from acclaimed choreographers

(Monday, Aug. 6), or two different International Evenings of evening with New York City Ballet Moves (Tuesday, July 31). Dance (Friday and Saturday, Aug. 3-4) that showcase principal They’ll be performing excerpts of legendary choreographer dancers from the New York City Ballet, American Ballet George Balanchine’s works to Igor Stravinsky’s music at the Theatre, Boston Ballet, Fang-Yi Sheu & Artists Dance Company, Vilar Center in Beaver Creek. With fair warning, based on last Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, PacificN orthwest Ballet year’s intimate Up Close performance featuring the men of and more. New York City Ballet, this promises to be an outstanding piece The dance festival got an auspicious start in 1989 when of ballet history (and a sold-out show), but this is a dancer’s Vail stood in as the last-minute replacement for a canceled dance performance. Texas tour stop for Russia’s famous 235-year-old Bolshoi A solid recommendation for the uninitiated is the rousing Ballet Academy. The Rockies appealed to the Russians, and Dance for $20.12 (Tuesday, Aug. 7), which offers a sampler of the relationship grew into a four-week residency for young festival artists that can range from ballet to hip hop in one ballet dancers. By 1993 the firstI nternational Evenings of fabulous performance. n Dance emerged, with mixed casts of dancers from the world’s most prestigious companies, including the Bolshoi Ballet, the Tickets and more information available at www.vaildance.org. Paris Opera Ballet, New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, performing together al fresco on the Gerald R. Ford Get More Dance. Amphitheater stage. A round-trip drive to Vail is easy enough for an evening. But the By 1998, notable choreographers began premiering new dance festival lineup is so strong and varied, with ample afford- works at the festival, setting their pieces for dancers ranging able tickets, that it truly warrants an overnight stay to catch at from the Atlanta Ballet to the Trey McIntyre Project. Former least two back-to-back shows. Treat yourself to a room at the cozy Sebastian Hotel in the heart of Vail Village, where you can New York City Ballet star Damian Woetzel took the festival’s lounge by the pool, enjoy the hip Frost bar, and dine decadently reigns in 2006, upping the ante with even more prestigious at one of Colorado’s most creative new restaurants, Block 16. As lineups of visiting companies, including Pacific Northwest you wander the streets, you may also catch some of the festival’s Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company and a free off-stage events, including sneak-peak performances, discus- world debut for Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. sions and more. www.thesebastianvail.com. If you’re headed for All of this year’s performances take place at the Ford the Vilar Center performance, settle in for the night at The Amphitheater, except for one special rehearsal-style Up Close Charter at Beaver Creek. www.thecharter.com

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