Continuing its long and ongoing history with Aspen, Salt Lake City-based Ballet West returns on August 27.

From 1970 to 1995, Ballet West participated in summer residencies lasting between two and six weeks in Aspen. By the early 1970s, it was recognized as one of the most active ballet organizations nationally, holding classes, attracting students nationwide, and performing in Aspen.

In 1963, William F. Christensen – considered the godfather of American ballet because he founded the first full-fledged American ballet company, the San Francisco Ballet, as well as the first ballet department of an American university at the University of Utah – founded Ballet West with Glenn Walker Wallace, considered Utah’s First Lady of the Arts.

Since then, four more artistic directors have integrated different styles into the company. American dancer Bruce Marks brought the Danish dance tradition and introduced modern and contemporary dance to the company in the early 1980s. John Hart contributed the style of the Royal Ballet and Jonas Kage integrated modern masterpieces from Europe. Current artistic director Adam Sklute worked with the Joffrey Ballet for 23 years as a dancer, ballet master and associate director.

“Each of us has expanded the repertoire that grew out of the storytelling that Christensen developed,” said Sklute. “The ensemble has evolved with each artistic director.”

Ballet West’s broad and varied repertoire and the way the dancers move are just some of the aspects that set the company apart from others.

“We are a big company that moves very quickly,” he said, adding that they stick strictly to the style of the original works.

The performance in Aspen “demonstrates the size and reach of the company,” he said.

The program begins with Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour, set to music by Enso Bosso and Santonio Vivaldi. Wheeldon’s choreography combines classical ballet techniques with other dance forms to present ballet steps in innovative ways. He views the ballet’s seven movements as a series of small paintings or sketches inspired by the music, which he wrote down in notes.

“It’s a beautiful, elegant work with 13 dancers,” Sklute said. “It creates such a wonderful mood and shows what Ballet West is all about in terms of look and feel.”

After the first intermission, Lexi McCloud and Hadriel Diniz perform “Pas de Deux from Don Quixote.” The full-length ballet’s pas de deux, premiered by the Imperial Russian Ballet in 1869, was originally performed during the wedding in the final act, but is now performed separately around the world.

“It is a pyrotechnic performance of classical ballet and showcases the great technique of the dancers,” said Sklute.

Then Ballet West brings back “Red Angels” by Ulysses Dove, a dynamic piece that Ballet West presented this summer at the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) Gala.

“It is a rarely seen ballet,” said ASFB CEO Jean-Philippe Malaty.

The abstract piece highlights the dancers’ power and athleticism, with bold choreography to Richard Einhorn’s “Maxwell’s Demon,” a score for electric violin played by Mary Rowell, one of only two people in the world to have performed it.

“It was extremely popular at the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet gala,” Sklute said.

The evening ends with “Light Rain,” which he and ASFB’s artistic director Tom Mossbrucker have danced before in their careers. The work was premiered by the Joffrey Ballet in 1981 and first staged by Ballet West last year. Choreographer Gerald Arpino conceived it as a tribute to the youth of the early 1980s. The music by Douglas Adams and Russ Gauthier revealed a new sound at the time, with Eastern music being played on Western instruments.

“It shimmers. It’s a rain of light,” Sklute said. “It’s an exciting ending.”