American Ballet Theatre Unveils 2025 Fall Season and 2026 Spring Season

American Ballet Theatre will present two seasons at the David H. Koch Theater for 2025-2026. The 2025 Fall season, scheduled for October 15–November 1 at the David H. Koch Theater, will include Twyla@60: A Tharp Celebration and three ABT@85 programs: A Retrospective of Master Choreographers, Classics to the Contemporary, and Innovations Past and Present.
 
The Company’s first Spring season at the David H. Koch Theater will take place from March 6-21, 2026. The season will include Lar Lubovitch’s full-length Othello, as well as repertory programs featuring Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird, George Balanchine’s Mozartiana, and Raymonda: Grand Pas Hongrois, an excerpt from the third act of Marius Petipa's full-length Raymonda.
 

2025 FALL SEASON

 
Principal Dancers for the 2025 Fall season include Joo Won Ahn, Aran Bell, Isabella Boylston, Skylar Brandt, Daniel Camargo, Misty Copeland, Herman Cornejo, Thomas Forster, Isaac Hernández, Catherine Hurlin, Chloe Misseldine, Calvin Royal III, Hee Seo, Christine Shevchenko, Cory Stearns, Devon Teuscher, James Whiteside, and Roman Zhurbin.
 

Fall Gala

The 2025 Fall Gala, a celebration honoring the career of Principal Dancer Misty Copeland, will take place on Wednesday evening, October 22 at the Koch Theater. For more information on ABT’s Fall Gala, please contact the Special Events Office at specialevents@abt.org.
 

World Premiere

Have We Met?!, a new commission by Juliano Nunes, will have its World Premiere on Wednesday, October 29, as part of the Innovations Past and Present program. Set to music by Luke Howard, the ballet tells the story of two inseparable souls who reconnect across different lifetimes. Nunes’s first work for ABT, Have We Met?! features sets and costumes by Youssef Hotait and lighting by Brad Fields.
 

Company Premiere and Tharp Celebration

American Ballet Theatre will pay tribute to choreographer Twyla Tharp and her prolific career with Twyla@60: A Tharp Celebration, which will include the Company Premiere of Sextet, alongside Bach Partita and Push Comes to Shove. The program will receive four performances throughout the season, on the evenings of October 15, 16, 18, and 24.
 
Tharp’s Sextet will have its ABT Company Premiere on Wednesday, October 15. A dazzling work for three couples, Sextet is set to music by Colin Jacobsen (“Brooklesca”), Café Tacvba (“La Muerte Chiquita”), and Ljova (“Plume”), with costumes by Santo Loquasto and original lighting by David Finn. The ballet had its World Premiere by Twyla Tharp Dance on January 30, 1992, at New York City Center danced by Allison Brown, Isabelle Guérin, Delphine Moussin, Lionel Delanoe, Stephane Elizabe, and Robert La Fosse.
 
Set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin, Tharp’s Bach Partita features costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The work received its World Premiere by ABT in 1983 at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., danced by Cynthia Gregory, Martine van Hamel, Magali Messac, Fernando Bujones, Clark Tippet, and Robert La Fosse. Bach Partita was last performed by ABT in 2014.
 
Push Comes to Shove, Tharp’s inaugural work for ABT, was originally choreographed for Mikhail Baryshnikov and had its World Premiere on January 9, 1976, at the Uris Theater in New York City. Bringing together popular and classical musical styles, Push Comes to Shove is set to Bohemia Rag by Joseph Lamb and Symphony No. 82 in C Major by Franz Joseph Haydn, with costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The ballet was last performed by ABT in 1999.
 

ABT@85: A Retrospective of Master Choreographers

A Retrospective of Master Choreographers will be given four performances throughout the Fall season, on the evening of October 17, at the matinees on October 18 and 19, and on the evening of October 23. The program will feature Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphides, Antony Tudor’s Gala Performance, and Agnes De Mille’s Rodeo.
 
Set to music by Frédéric Chopin and orchestrated by Benjamin Britten, Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphides, a one-act plotless work, was given its Company Premiere at Ballet Theatre's inaugural performance on January 11, 1940, at the Center Theatre in New York City. The ballet received its first performance at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg on March 8, 1908. This production of Les Sylphides features costumes by Lucinda Ballard, scenery by Alexandre Benois, and lighting by Nananne Porcher.
 
Antony Tudor’s Gala Performance, set to music by Sergei Prokofiev, is a clever and lighthearted satire of ballet’s grand traditions. Gala Performance was given its World Premiere on December 5, 1938, by the London Ballet at the Toynbee Hall Theatre, London, danced by Peggy Van Praagh, Maude Lloyd, Gerd Larsen, Antony Tudor, and Hugh Laing. The ballet received it Ballet Theatre Company Premiere on February 11, 1941, at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. This current production, with scenery and costumes by Hugh Laing and lighting by Jennifer Tipton, was premiered on December 11, 1987, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California, danced by Leslie Browne, Susan Jaffe, Alessandra Ferri, Victor Barbee, and John Gardner. Gala Performance was last performed by ABT in 1998.
 
Agnes De Mille’s humorous love story Rodeo, featuring music by Aaron Copland and scenery by Oliver Smith, was first presented by The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera House on October 16, 1942, with de Mille as the Cowgirl, Frederic Franklin as the Champion Roper, and Casimir Kokitch as the Head Wrangler. Rodeo was first performed by Ballet Theatre in Wiesbaden, Germany on August 14, 1950. A new production, featuring sets by Oliver Smith and costumes by Santo Loquasto, was given its Revival Premiere in 1989 in St. Louis, Missouri.

ABT@85: Classics to the Contemporary

Classics to the Contemporary, to be presented October 25–28, will feature The Kingdom of the Shades and The Sleeping Beauty, Act III, alongside assorted pas de deux.
 
Choreographed by Natalia Makarova after Marius Petipa, The Kingdom of the Shades is set to music by Ludwig Minkus, specially arranged by John Lanchbery, and features scenery by PierLuigi Samartitani, costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting by Toshiro Ogawa. The Kingdom of the Shades was first performed in the West by the Leningrad-Kirov Ballet in 1961. Makarova first staged The Kingdom of the Shades for American Ballet Theatre in 1974, and it received its Company Premiere at the State Theater in New York City on July 3 of that year, danced by Cynthia Gregory as Nikiya and Ivan Nagy as Solor.
 
Christian Spuck’s Le Grand Pas de Deux, a comic take on the traditional ballet duet, will be performed at the matinee on October 25 and the evening of October 28. Set to Gioachino Rossini’s overture from The Thieving Magpie, Le Grand Pas de Deux features costumes by Nicole Krahl and lighting by Martin Gebhardt. The ballet was first performed by the Stuttgart Ballet on December 31, 1999, danced by Julia Krämer and Robert Tewsley, and received its ABT Company Premiere at City Center in New York City on October 22, 2003, danced by Xiomara Reyes and VLADIMIR MALAKHOV.
 
The pas de deux from Twyla Tharp’s Known by Heart is scheduled for the matinees on October 25 and 26. Set to selections from Donald Knaack’s “Junk Music,” a percussive score played entirely on recycled materials, the pas de deux features costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. Choreographed for ABT, Known by Heart received its World Premiere on November 3, 1998, danced by Susan Jaffe, Ethan Stiefel, Julie Kent, Angel Corella, Griff Braun, and Keith Roberts.
 
Victor Gsovsky’s Grand Pas Classique, scheduled for the evening of October 25 and the matinee on October 26, represents the epitome of classical purity and precision. This pas de deux, set to music by Daniel-François Auber, allows dancers to demonstrate their energy, endurance, and musicality through the brilliant and exacting choreography. Grand Pas Classique received its World Premiere by Les Ballets des Champs-Élysées at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris on November 12, 1949, danced by Yvette Chauviré and Vladimir Skouratoff. The ballet received its ABT Company Premiere at the New York State Theater on August 11, 1972, danced by Cynthia Gregory and Ted Kivitt.
 
Alexei Ratmansky’s Neo will be performed on the evenings of October 25 and 31. Set to music by Dai Fujikura, with costumes by Moritz Junge and lighting by Brad Fields, Neo is an incredibly demanding piece, challenging its dancers to perform a work that is fevered and sensuous, daring, and stunning. The piece was originally created on ABT Principal Dancers James Whiteside and Isabella Boylston for a digital performance presented by The Joyce Theater, New York, New York, on May 19, 2021, and received its ABT Premiere on October 19, 2024, at the David H. Koch Theater.
 
The pas de deux from Frederick Ashton’s Rhapsody will receive its ABT Company Premiere on Tuesday, October 28. One of Ashton’s final and most challenging works, Rhapsody was created for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier and received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet on August 4, 1980. Set to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” the pas de deux features costumes by William Chappell and lighting by Brad Fields.
 
The Sleeping Beauty, Act III, depicts the lavish wedding of Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré from the classic ballet, complete with an assortment of fairy tale guests. Staged by Susan Jaffe after choreography by Marius Petipa, The Sleeping Beauty is set to the score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and features costumes by Willa Kim, with additional designs by Holly Hynes, and lighting by Brad Fields.
 

ABT@85: Innovations Past and Present

Innovations Past and Present, scheduled for the evenings of October 29 and 30, and the matinee and evening on November 1, will feature the Juliano Nunes World Premiere, Have We Met?!, Alexei Ratmansky’s Serenade after Plato’s Symposium, and George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations.
 
Serenade after Plato’s Symposium is an abstract discourse on love that is widely considered to be one of Alexei Ratmansky’s finest creations. Set to music by Leonard Bernstein, the ballet features scenery and costumes by Jérôme Kaplan and lighting by Brad Fields. Serenade after Plato’s Symposium received its World Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on May 16, 2016, at the Metropolitan Opera House.
 
George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, set to a score of the same name by Tchaikovsky from Suite No. 3 for Orchestra, was created for Ballet Theatre and received its World Premiere at New York’s City Center on November 26, 1947, danced by Alicia Alonso and Igor Youskevitch. A neo-classical masterpiece, Theme and Variations features scenery and costumes by Zack Brown and lighting by Brad Fields.
 

Family Friendly Programming

A special Halloween program on the evening of October 31 will feature a family friendly repertoire, including Rodeo, the Rhapsody pas de deux, Neo, and The Sleeping Beauty, Act III. Audience members are encouraged to attend in costume, for Halloween fun on and off the stage.
 
ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s one-hour introduction to ballet for families, will be presented on Saturday, November 1 at 11:00 A.M., hosted by Principal Dancer Misty Copeland. ASL interpretation will be provided. A limited number of $175 VIP tickets will be available for purchase that include premium seating, a souvenir gift bag, and a post-performance meet-and-greet with an ABT dancer. All other tickets for the ABTKids performance are $30-$40.
 

2026 SPRING SEASON

 
The 2026 Spring season will include eight performances of Lar Lubovitch’s Othello, March 6-10 and 19-20. Othello, a Dance in Three Acts, is set to a commissioned score by Elliot Goldenthal and scenery by George Tsypin, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, original lighting by Patricia Collins, and projections by Wendall K. Harrington. Last performed by ABT in 2015, Othello received its World Premiere on May 23, 1997, at the Metropolitan Opera House, led by Desmond Richardson (Othello) and Sandra Brown (Desdemona).
 
Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird returns for nine performances, March 13-18 and 21. The one-act Stravinsky classic features scenery by Simon Pastukh, costumes by Galina Solovyeva, lighting by Brad Fields, and projections by Wendall K. Harrington. Firebird was given its World Premiere at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California, on March 29, 2012, danced by Natalia Osipova (Firebird), Marcelo Gomes (Ivan), David Hallberg (Kaschei), and Simone Messmer (Maiden).
 
George Balanchine’s Mozartiana will lead off the program on the evening of March 13, the matinee on March 14, and the evenings of March 18 and 21. One of Balanchine’s last works, the ballet is set to Suite No. 4, Mozartiana by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and features costumes by Holly Hynes and lighting by Brad Fields. This version of Mozartiana was created for New York City Ballet and received its World Premiere on June 4, 1981, at the New York State Theater led by Suzanne Farrell, Ib Andersen, and Christopher d'Amboise. Mozartiana received its ABT Company Premiere on May 24, 2004, at the Metropolitan Opera House, danced by Nina Ananiashvili, Angel Corella, and Herman Cornejo.
 
Firebird will share the program with Raymonda: Grand Pas Hongrois on the evenings of March 14 and 17 and the matinees on March 15, 18, and 21. This excerpt from Act III of the full-length Raymonda, set to a score by Alexander Glazunov, is considered one of Marius Petipa’s masterpieces, a joyous and celebratory finale to the ballet.
 

ABT Masters Series