En Plein Air

There’s just something about the outdoor dance performances that summer brings. Movements take on additional urgency when rain threatens. Costumes feel even dreamier in the soft light of golden hour. Knowing that you’re feeling the same breeze and sunlight as the dancers creates a sense of camaraderie that eliminates, as much as possible, the “us and them” feeling that a proscenium can create.

Performance

Ballet West at the Summit

Place

The Amphitheater at Canyons Village at Park City Mountain, Park City, Utah, July 17, 2026

Words

Sophie Bress

Students of Ballet West in Garrett Smith's “As We Are.” Photograph by Lauren Wattenburg

An afternoon of scattered thunderstorms—crowned by the most glorious rainbow—cleared just in time for Ballet West at the Summit, an evening of outdoor dance held at Park City Mountain. This was the flagship event of Salt Lake City–based Ballet West’s inaugural Summit Festival, which took place in Park City and the surrounding areas from July 15-17, 2026.

The one-night-only performance featured four company principals—Adrian Fry, Katlyn Addison, Jenna Rae Herrera, and David Huffmire—and a group of pre-professional students enrolled in the Ballet West Academy/ArtÉmotion Choreographic Workshop. The company dancers performed the Ballet West premieres of Michael Smuin’s “Quattro a Verdi” and Gerald Arpino’s “L’Air d’Esprit,” as well as Christopher Wheeldon’s “After the Rain.” The students danced in four world premieres by former Dance Theatre of Harlem star Ingrid Silva, Salt Lake City native Garrett Smith, ArtÉmotion artistic director Rex Tilton, and Final Bow for Yellowface co-founder Phil Chan.

Ballet West Academy Trainees in Ingrid Silva's “Unknown Wave” Photograph by Lauren Wattenburg

In addition to marking Ballet West’s growing commitment to the Park City area, Summit Festival comes at a promising and opportune time for the company and the community. Park City has long been the home of the Sundance Film Festival, which will move to Boulder, Colorado in 2027. One hopes that Summit Festival can raise its profile enough to fill this new art-world gap in Park City, following in the footsteps of other notable dance festivals that take over ski towns in the summer.

If this is the goal, the inaugural Ballet West at the Summit laid a promising foundation. Over two hours, the company and its academy offered up standard classical and contemporary ballet fare, with some works that managed to transcend the “summer intensive recital” look and others that, unfortunately, did not. Those that rose above the noise did so because of either apt conjuring of natural phenomena, imaginative choreography, the transportive talents of a few dancers, or—ideally—the magical combination of all three.

The first standout of the evening was Silva’s “The Unknown Wave,” which brought to mind images of spring flowers—or fairies skipping through the rain drops still lingering on the amphitheater’s grass. Though, at times, the piece had a distinctly recital-like quality, it provided an excellent platform for a promising dancer, the Ballet West trainee Mae DeBerard, to showcase her pliable extensions and professional-grade precision—if there were a spotlight, it would have followed her.

Students of Ballet West in Phil Chan's “An American in Bali.” Photogarph by Lauren Wattenburg

Smith’s “As We Are,” which closed the first act, was also a defining moment. The opening tableau, a stage full of dancers clad in black sweatpants and tutus, brought to mind another natural image—a murder of crows. Pulling largely from contemporary ballet—albeit with a peppering of street dance—“As We Are” seemed to explore group versus solo dynamics through references that felt distinctly avian. There were moments when the birds flocking overhead mirrored the dancers flocking onstage.

“As We Are” offered the opportunity for four more promising young dancers—Robert Everly IV, Delilah Kostiuk, Quinn Calhune, and Carina Fulop—to take flight in soloist roles. These dancers literally emerged from the crowd, claiming the stage for full-bodied, full-spirited moments before becoming enveloped back into the whole.

Fittingly for the day’s weather, Christopher Wheeldon’s “After the Rain” was the high point of Ballet West at the Summit. Fry and Addison, a favorite partnering at Ballet West, fit into the work as if it were made for them. Where many dancers channel their expressivity into their upper bodies, Addison has the ability to channel emotions into her lower limbs, a quality that Wheeldon’s sumptuous choreography amplified beautifully. Fry dances with more soul than bravura—he provided both a physical and spiritual base for Addison to soar. The two dancers moved us—and moved along with us—after the rain.

Sophie Bress

Sophie Bress is an arts and culture journalist and dance critic. She regularly contributes to Dance Magazine and Fjord Review, and has also written for the New York Times, NPR, Observer, Pointe, and more.

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