Ballet Hispanico Comes to The Vail Dance Festival

Ballet Hispánico, the nation's premier Latino dance organization, brings its bold and eclectic brand of contemporary dance to the Vail Dance Festival for the first time in August 2018.

"We are thrilled to be part of this renowned festival that is meeting the need for diversity head-on with its innovative pairings of artists of all genres," said Artistic Director & CEO Eduardo Vilaro.

"Ballet Hispánico has been a trail-blazing force in so many ways," said Vail Dance Festival Artistic Director Damian Woetzel. "I am so pleased to have this wonderful opportunity to feature the company at the Festival in several performances which share different aspects of their unique power as an American dance treasure."

The Company will be a part of four unique programs:

NOW: Premieres, August 6, 2018 at 7:30pm, Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater

A collection of new pieces commissioned by the Festival from some of today's most renowned and emerging choreographers will be performed by ballet, modern, and contemporary dance artists. The evening will include a new work by emerging ballet choreographer Claudia Schreier, who has set the piece on Chris Bloom and Dandara Veiga from Ballet Hispánico.

Dance for $20.18, August 7, 2018 at 7:30pm, Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater

A mixed-bill evening for everyone with guest artists from the 2018 Vail Dance Festival, including Eduardo Vilaro's Danzón, which The New York Times called a "crowd pleaser." Initially evolved from Haitian contradance, the danzón has been called the official dance of Cuba. Mr. Vilaro has taken this traditional and quintessentially Cuban dance form and reinvented it with contemporary language to construct a joyous celebration of music and movement.

Dancing in the Park, August 8, 2018 at 5:30pm, Avon Performance Pavilion

Ballet Hispánico presents its family-friendly En Familia performance to the extraordinary stage of the Avon Performance Pavilion at Nottingham Park. The Company will present excerpts from their repertory in an exploration and celebration of the diversity of Latino cultures through the dialogue of dance. Children from Celebrate The Beat's Pop Hop Camp will also perform.

Ballet Hispánico, August 9, 2018 at 6:30pm, Vilar Performing Arts Center

The evening's program will feature Gustavo Ramírez Sansano's CARMEN.maquia.An exhilarating contemporary take on Bizet's beloved composition that Dance Magazine called "divinely elegant," the piece was recently featured on PBS' Lincoln Center at the Movies. The physically charged and sensual choreography fuses contemporary dance with nods to the Spanish paso doble and flamenco.

For tickets and more information, visit www.vaildance.org.

Ballet Hispánico, the premier Latino dance organization in the United States, brings individuals and communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through dance. Whether dancing on stage, in school, or in the street, Ballet Hispánico creates a space where few institutions are breaking ground.

The organization's founder, National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez, sought to give voice to the Hispanic experience and break through stereotypes. Today, Ballet Hispánico is led by Eduardo Vilaro, an acclaimed choreographer and former member of the Company, whose vision of social equity, cultural identity and quality arts education for all drives its programs.

Ballet Hispánico, a role model in and for the Latino community, is inspiring creativity and social awareness in our neighborhoods and across the country by providing access to arts education.

Eduardo Vilaro joined Ballet Hispánico as Artistic Director in August 2009, becoming only the second person to head the company since it was founded in 1970. In 2015, Mr. Vilaro took on the additional role of Chief Executive Officer of Ballet Hispánico. He has been part of the Ballet Hispánico family since 1985 as a dancer and educator, after which he began a ten-year record of achievement as founder and Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago. Mr. Vilaro has infused Ballet Hispánico's legacy with a bold and eclectic brand of contemporary dance that reflects America's changing cultural landscape. Born in Cuba and raised in New York from the age of six, he is a frequent speaker on the merits of cultural diversity and dance education.

Mr. Vilaro's own choreography is devoted to capturing the spiritual, sensual and historical essence of Latino cultures. He created over 20 ballets for Luna Negra and has received commissions from the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Grant Park Festival, the Lexington Ballet and the Chicago Symphony. In 2001, he was a recipient of a Ruth Page Award for choreography, and in 2003, he was honored for his choreographic work at Panama's II International Festival of Ballet. Mr. Vilaro was also inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame in 2016 and was awarded HOMBRE Magazine's 2017 Arts & Culture Trailblazer of the Year.

The outdoor splendor of the Colorado Rocky Mountains is the backdrop each summer as the unique mountain town of Vail plays host to a collection of the world's finest dancers. Under the artistic direction of Damian Woetzel, the Vail Dance Festival, now in its 30th year, has become renowned for its artistic excellence, unique programming, commissioned works, and one-of-a-kind artistic collaborations. More than twenty thousand people from around the world descend each summer on Vail, a vibrant cultural destination, for the Festival's two-week residency. The Festival's spirited atmosphere transforms the village into a culturally-rich environment that is inviting to dance aficionados and newcomers alike. In addition to regular performances, the Festival features robust community programming and education events, drawing on its roster of visiting artists, in addition to year-round personnel who focus on arts education in the Vail Valley. In the fall of 2016, the Vail Dance Festival presented for the first time a season outside of its Colorado-base, with a series of acclaimed performances at New York City Center entitled Vail Dance Festival: ReMix NYC. The Vail Dance Festival is a project of the Vail Valley Foundation, which since 1981 has fulfilled its mission to enhance and sustain the quality of life in the Vail Valley by providing leadership in arts, education, and athletics. The Vail Valley Foundation's work is made possible by generous individuals and support from Cornerstone Partners GMC, EverBank, and Vail Resorts. For more information, visit www.vaildance.org.

The Vail Valley Foundation is a nonprofit with the mission to enhance and sustain the quality of life in the Vail Valley by providing leadership in arts, education and athletics. The organization is known for its work in education with YouthPower365, which provides programming to more than 4,200 local children with early childhood, K-12, and scholarship programs. The Vail Valley Foundation also provides the Vail Valley with several of its most treasured annual events, such as the GoPro Mountain Games, the EverBank America's Winter Opening, the Birds of Prey FIS World Cup races, the Colorado Classic cycling race, the Vail Dance Festival and the Whistle Pig Vail concert series. The Vail Valley Foundation was the organizing body for the Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek in 1989, 1999, and 2015. It also manages and operates the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek Village and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, providing more than 100 concert, Broadway, dance, and family events per year.

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