Vail Dance Festival Video & Photo Highlights 2022

by Nel Shelby | Sep 1, 2022 | Dance Feature, Dance Film, Livestream, Performance Video | 0 comments

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This post was co-written by Nel Shelby & Christopher Duggan

Filming & Photographing Vail Dance Festival is a dream

Some top Vail Dance Festival moments for us this summer include:

An Aspen Forest creative portrait session with Lauren Lovette (she lovingly referred to it as a ‘pas de deux between her and Christopher’)
Livestreaming the NOW: Premieres performance
Our Team sushi party by the Gore Creek
Shoots in the mountains with Roman Mejia & Tiler Peck (and filming Tiler’s fouettes & Roman’s jumps!!)
Collaborating with the VDF team and our team
Christopher making family portraits with Justin Peck & Patricia Delgado
The fresh mountain air
Morning hikes with our son Jack
Closing night’s Silent Disco
Collaborating with historian Lauryn Johnson

We love capturing the magical mix of rehearsals and on-stage moments that make Vail such a special space for supporting creation and high-caliber performance.

Keep scrolling for a few of Christopher’s favorite dance photos & a few of Nel’s favorite produced videos from this summer at Vail…

Lauren Lovette’s Master Class at Vail Dance Festival 2022; photo Christopher Duggan

Unity Phelan and Aaron Sanz in Jerome Robbins’ “In the Night" at Vail Dance Festival 2022; photo Christopher Duggan

Roman Mejia, Harrison Coll, India Bradley, Clair Kretzschmar, Tiler Peck, KJ Takahashi, Ashley Hod, and Gilbert Bolden III in Justin Peck’s “Partita" at Vail Dance Festival 2022; photo Christopher Duggan

Ephrat Asherie and Michelle Dorrance in Ephrat Asherie’s “It gets the better of me" at Vail Dance Festival 2022; photo Christopher Duggan

Tiler Peck and Lil Buck in a self-choreographed piece “Stop Time" at Vail Dance Festival 2022; photo Christopher Duggan

Melissa Toogood, Herman Cornejo, Caroline Shaw and Kate Davis in Pam Tanowitz’s “No Nonsense" at Vail Dance Festival 2022; photo Christopher Duggan

Tiler Peck & Roman Mejia at Vail Dance Festival 2022; photo Christopher Duggan

Lauren Lovette’s Master Class; Sara Mearns in Bobbi Jean Smith’s “MASS;” Roman Mejia, Harrison Coll, India Bradley, Clair Kretzschmar, Tiler Peck, KJ Takahashi, Ashley Hod, and Gilbert Bolden III in Justin Peck’s “Partita;” Unity Phelan and Aaron Sanz in Jerome Robbins’ “In the Night;” Ephrat Asherie and Michelle Dorrance in Ephrat Asherie’s “It gets the better of me;” Kathrine Bolanos, Matthew Gilmore, and Kaya Wolsey in DanceAspen’s performance; Melissa Toogood, Herman Cornejo, Caroline Shaw and Kate Davis in Pam Tanowitz’s “No Nonsense;” Kathrine Bolanos, Matthew Gilmore, and Kaya Wolsey in DanceAspen’s performance; Tiler Peck and Lil Buck in a self-choreographed piece “Stop Time;” Tiler Peck & Roman Mejia; photos Christopher Duggan

Live-streaming NOW: Premieres at Vail Dance Festival 2022

This summer, we were thrilled to once again share a live performance from Vail Dance Festival with audiences around the world! When we knew we were going to live-stream, we quickly created a short trailer with Artistic Director Damian Woetzel to promote it. Nel live-directed 4 cameras to show NOW: Premieres to the online audience, giving everyone a chance to see the performance featuring new choreography by Ephrat Asherie, Caili Quan, Jodi Melnick, Justin Peck, Claudia Schreier, Bobbi Jene Smith & Pam Tanowitz.

The performance is no longer online, but you can view excerpts from the performance in our sizzle reel from the show!

Sara Mearns & Robbie Fairchild in rehearsal

Another highlight was working with Sara Mearns & Robbie Fairchild behind-the-scenes, capturing their rehearsal of Christopher Wheeldon’s incredibly beautiful “The Two of Us,” set to songs by Joni Mitchell.

New work by Ephrat Asherie

One of our favorite things about Vail Dance Festival is the collaborative atmosphere. It was SO FUN to watch dancers of all different backgrounds, genres, and styles come together to create with Ephrat. This video is full of such passionate energy and joy… every time we watch, we smile.

The Making of Pam Tanowitz’ “No Nonsense”

“I think that my work doesn’t necessarily tell a story, but there already is a story involved in making something. I feel like when I start making things, I let the making become the meaning and I try to find human moments within the abstraction.” – Pam Tanowitz

Merce Cunningham’s “Changing Steps” in rehearsal

Nel studied Cunningham technique in her BFA program in college and has always loved the work. In fact, a lot of the NSP team has been influenced by Merce Cunningham throughout their dance experience. Melissa Toogood staged “Changing Steps” for Vail this summer, and the rehearsal process footage is glorious!!!

We’ll be sharing even more video and photography from Vail in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!!

Follow us on Instagram: @nelshelby & @cdugganphoto

Christopher Duggan is Nel’s husband! He has been the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival photographer since 2006, photographer for Vail Dance since 2021, and has photographed many world-renowned dance companies during his career. This summer, Christopher’s work is on exhibition in Blake’s Barn at Jacob’s Pillow, in an installation called: “Now & Then: Evocative Dance Portraits by Christopher Duggan.” You can also find Christopher behind-the-video-camera and operating our drone at Nel Shelby Productions. NSP always offers photography as part of our dance services, because we believe dance photography is an essential part of our media toolkit. That includes photographing live performance, in-rehearsal creative processes, and creative portrait shoots. You can learn more about the depth and breadth of Christopher’s dance photography here.