Vail Dance Festival

A week after returning from Napa for our first live dance performance in 1.5 yrs, Joyce, Suzanne and I, along with their partners Joel and Ben, headed to LAX very early for our flight to Denver and a shuttle to Vail in pouring rain. 

By the time we got to Vail the rain was reduced to light sprinkles. The others are staying at Austria Haus Hotel, but because I joined them late, I am at a different lodging- Hotel Gasthof-Gramshammer. It's quite a complex with a sporting goods store and restaurant attached. The room is comfortable and quaint although a little noisier than Austria Haus due to the location.

Our first dinner was at La Bottega. I had prosciutto and melon and lobster ravioli. We all shared two wonderful desserts (of course one of them was tiramisu).

Our very first performance was the same day we arrived. NYCB Moves is the touring arm of the company. They performed 3 pieces, all of which were new to me:

In the Night (Robbins)

Sonatine (Sonatine)

Pictures at an Exhibition (Ratmansky)

I loved all of the pieces and I thought the dancers (combination of principals, soloists and corps) performed better than I've seen them in awhile. There was a feeling of joy that really made the night special.

After a good night's sleep, I picked up some breakfast from my hotel (hard boiled egg and some pastries with mediocre coffee), then met the others at theirs. Today is a large farmer's market so we spent the mornings checking out the stalls. I picked up a beautiful banana leaf hat.

Tonight's performance is early so we had a late lunch/early dinner at Sweet Basil, recommended by the Austria Haus concierge. It was so good! I had an amazing snow crab pasta but everyone raved about their food. After, we had ice cream at a new place called Sundae. Their chocolate orange tasted exactly like the treats that Mei and Stephen put into Xmas stockings every year.

The performance tonight is an UpClose highlighting Calvin Royal III who is the Artist-In-Residence this year. They discuss different aspects of his career and his experiences at Vail. He performed pieces with Isabella Boylston, Mira Mason, Unity Phelan, and worked on new pieces with Tyler Peck and Jamar Roberts. This series is such a special part of the Vail program and even more so with such a special dancer as Calvin is. We also ran into Boise, who used to take Joan's ballet class! He now lives in NYC and was there with his partner and his mom.