
NYC Ballet MOVES, photo by Christopher Duggan
Filming & Photographing Vail Dance Festival 2022
Opening Night at Vail Dance Festival 2022
NYC Ballet MOVES & Ephrat Asherie’s ODEON
The next two nights of the festival are company nights – this year, we had NYC Ballet MOVES and Ephrat Asherie’s ODEON. I’ve photographed ODEON before. The show is so energetic and exciting. The live music, the body percussion from the artists… Seeing it all happen 9,000 feet above sea-level… crazy!!! I was in tears at the end of the show, texting Ephrat: “I am still filled with excitement and joy from your performance last night!!!” I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Above photos of Ephrat Asherie Dance by Christopher Duggan
Artists in “Work Mode”
Artistic Director Damian Woetzel says from the stage to the audience every night that VDF is about “next steps” — for choreographers, dancers, new pairings, new partnerships, debuts, new works… It’s really exciting to be here, and you can sense the energy that everyone is in work mode. All the artists rehearsing and choreographing, Nel’s team filming and editing, me personally photographing and meeting editing deadlines. It’s exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.

Damian Woetzel speaks on opening night, by Christopher Duggan
Artist-in-Residence Caili Quan
Watching Artist-in-Residence Caili Quan work with new dancers who she may not normally collaborate with is amazing. Damian shared that he gathers the ingredients in the off-season, then during the Festival, they put everything on the stove to cook. Finally, the artists can share the meal with the audience in performance!

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