Draughts of Space is a contemporary ballet work commissioned by Vail Friends of Dance for the Vail Youth Ballet Company. Set to a choral composition by Eric Whitacre and performed by VOCES8, the work draws inspiration from Walt Whitman’s poem Song of the Open Road.

A meditation on space, breath, and impermanence, the piece explores possibility and latitude between movements — inviting the dancers to linger long enough to sense and feel. Moving as individuals within a larger organism, dancers embody both the fleeting nature and quiet beauty of sentient life, as well as the shared task of offering our authentic gifts to this short and precious existence.