A phenomenal two-week celebration of dance featuring a collection of the world's greatest performing artists and most visionary choreographers has roots that go back to 1989.

In 1989, the famed Bolshoi Ballet Academy of Moscow had embarked on its first tour of the United States in nearly 20 years and found itself in Vail after a cancelled engagement. The beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the warmth of the Vail Valley community made an immediate impression on artistic director Sophia Golovkina and an engagement with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy began. Former President and Mrs. Gerald R. Ford, residents of the Vail Valley and ardent supporters of the Vail Valley Foundation, recognized the potential for creating this cultural exchange through dance.

In l990, a four-week summer academy for American students named the Bolshoi Academy at Vail was introduced. At the conclusion of the course, four American students were invited to travel to Moscow, to study for a semester at the Bolshoi Academy. In 1992, the Vail Valley Foundation recognized the need to engage a dance professional to direct and develop the project. Katherine Kersten, a former dancer, teacher and choreographer, who was serving as the school director for the Milwaukee Ballet at the time, became the managing director of the Academy. Programming then began to develop and to include a variety of educational programs and broader stylistic and international performance elements.

In the summer of 1993, the first International Evenings of Dance were created, featuring principal couples representing major international dance companies. Principal dancers performing in the International Evenings have included some of the world’s most celebrated principal dancers as guest artists including: Agnes Letestu and Jose Martinez, the Paris Opera Ballet; Vladimir Malakhov, Galina Stepenyanko, Nadezda Gratcheva, Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi Ballet; Joan Boada in his first USA appearance; Bernice Coppietiers, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo; Damian Woetzel, New York City Ballet; Ethan Steifel, American Ballet Theatre and Evelyn Hart and Rex Harrington, National Ballet of Canada; to name a few.

1993 saw the introduction of the International Dance Teachers’ Conference and, in l995, the creation of the Vail International Workshop for younger dance students, while in l994, the name Vail International Dance Festival was introduced. In l998 the Bolshoi Academy at Vail became the World Masters at Vail and internationally recognized master teachers were engaged to teach at the summer intensive. Teachers included Gilbert Mayer from the Paris Opera Ballet School in Paris, France, among others. In 1998, a choreographic dimension was introduced and the Festival began to commission and world-premiere new works. The project, named the Choreographers Collection, was developed as a collaborative effort with strong regional American dance companies wherein each year a new work is world-premiered. New works were created by: Stuttgart Ballet’s Stephen Greenston, Over Here (1998); Vladimir Anguelov’s El Torero (1999); Bird’s Nest, set on the Washington Ballet by Val Caniparoli (2000); Dwight Rhoden’s Higher Ground set on Complexions (2001); Damian Woetzel’s Shostakovich Suite (2002) set on New York City Ballet dancers; San Francisco Ballet choreographer Julia Adam created If a rose falls on the Atlanta Ballet (2003); Trey McIntyre choreographed Chasing Squirrel on Cincinnati Ballet (2004); Jessica Lang’s From Foreign Lands and People (2005) set on Colorado Ballet; and 2006 showcased the world premiere of Trey McIntyre’s Go Out set on his company of dancers, the Trey McIntyre Project.

In 2006, the Vail Valley Foundation appointed New York City Ballet star, Damian Woetzel, to lead the Festival into a new era of success.

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