New York City Ballet 2025 Spring Season to Feature Kyle Abraham, Balanchine and More

New York City Ballet’s 2025 Spring Season will open on Tuesday, April 22 and continue for six weeks of performances, through Sunday, June 1 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. The Spring Season, with programming curated by NYCB Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan in collaboration with Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford and Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor Justin Peck, will feature 26 ballets including the stage premiere of Kyle Abraham’s When We Fell, originally created for film in 2021. All performances will be accompanied by the 62-piece New York City Ballet Orchestra under the leadership of Music Director Andrew Litton.

The 2025 Spring Season will open with an all-Balanchine program consisting of Apollo (Stravinsky), Ballo della Regina(Verdi), Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux (Tschaikovsky), and Chaconne (Gluck). Learn more about the season here! 

2025 Spring Gala – Vienna Waltzes – May 8, 2025

The Company will present its annual Spring Gala on Thursday, May 8, featuring a performance of George Balanchine’s Vienna Waltzes. A work of monumental scale created for nearly 60 dancers and set to music by Johann Strauss (ii), Franz Lehár, and Richard Strauss, the five-part ballet – Balanchine’s homage to an age of imperial grandeur – follows the gradual transformation of the waltz across society. The ballet features sets by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, original lighting by Ronald Bates (current production by Mark Stanley), and costumes by Karinska, Balanchine’s longtime collaborator, which were her final creations for NYCB.

Vienna Waltzes, one of the largest productions in the NYCB repertory and only performed by NYCB since its 1977 premiere, will be the centerpiece of this one-night-only gala evening. The Gala will be chaired by Liz and Jeff Peek, Deborah Roberts, and Diana Taylor. The evening will begin with a 5:30pm cocktail reception, followed by the 7pm performance, and conclude with a black-tie dinner and dancing on the theater’s Promenade. For more information, visit nycballet.com/springgala.

For the remainder of the 2025 Spring Season, Vienna Waltzes will be paired with Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, choreographed in 1956 and set to what Balanchine considered the finest divertimento ever written, by Mozart.

NYCB Stage Premiere by Kyle Abraham – When We Fell – May 16, 2025

On Friday, May 16, NYCB will present the stage premiere of Kyle Abraham’s When We Fell, a work created for film as part of an NYCB residency at the Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Rhinebeck, New York, in 2021, during the COVID pandemic. Originally filmed on location at the David H. Koch Theater and set to music by Morton Feldman, Jason Moran, and Nico Muhly, When We Fell will be performed onstage for the first time as part of the 2025 Spring Season. It is one of four works Abraham has created for NYCB, along with Love Letter (on shuffle) (2022), The Runaway (2018), and the film Ces noms que nous portons (2020), a solo for NYCB Principal Dancer Taylor Stanley co-produced with Lincoln Center.

Abraham, the artistic director of A.I.M., began his dance training in Pittsburgh before studying at SUNY Purchase and receiving an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He also holds an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Washington & Jefferson College. In 2005, he founded A.I.M (formerly Abraham.In.Motion), which tours internationally. A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, he is also a recipient of the Doris Duke Award, USA Ford Fellowship, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance, and the Princess Grace Statue Award.

In addition to his work for A.I.M. and NYCB, Abraham has choreographed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Royal Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, among others. He was one of four choreographers who collaborated with Wendy Whelan on Restless Creature (2013), and he has created solos for American Ballet Theatre’s Misty Copeland and Calvin Royal III for New York City Center’s Fall For Dance Festival. Abraham currently holds the Claude and Alfred Mann Endowed Professorship in Dance at USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.

50th Anniversary – Ravel Festival – May 14, 15, 18, 20, 22, and 24 (Evening), 2025

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of NYCB’s Ravel Festival, first held in May 1975, the Company will present a special all-Ravel program featuring Balanchine’s La Valse (1951), and four works created for the original Ravel Festival: Balanchine’s Errante, Pavane, and Sonatine, and Robbins’ In G Major. NYCB’s Ravel Festival was one of four composer-focused festivals led by Balanchine for NYCB; others honored Stravinsky (1972 and 1982) and Tschaikovsky (1981).

Sensory-Friendly Performance – May 18, 2025 at 11am

On Sunday, May 18 at 11am, NYCB will offer a sensory-friendly performance featuring an all-Balanchine program: Ballo della Regina, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Scotch Symphony. Designed for audiences with sensory processing challenges, including autism, this inclusive performance will include a relaxed entry/exit policy, adjusted lighting and sound, designated break areas, additional staff, and pre-visit resources such as a visual schedule. Tickets start at $36.

Andrew Veyette Farewell Performance – May 25, 2025

On Sunday, May 25 at 3pm, Principal Dancer Andrew Veyette will give his farewell performance with NYCB after a 25-year career with the Company. The program for the afternoon is scheduled to include the third movement of Robbins’ Glass Pieces, Taylor-Corbett’s Chiaroscuro, and Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes. Veyette was born in Denver, CO, and began his dance training at age 9 at Dance Arts and Westside Ballet, and came to the School of American Ballet in 1998. Named an NYCB apprentice in 2000, he joined the NYCB corps de ballet later that year, was promoted to Soloist in 2006, and to Principal Dancer in 2007. His repertory includes leading roles in numerous works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Mauro Bigonzetti, August Bournonville, Merce Cunningham, Lauren Lovette, Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Liam Scarlett, Twyla Tharp, and Christopher Wheeldon.

George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – May 27 to June 1, 2025

The final week of the 2025 Spring Season will feature seven performances of Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from May 27 through June 1. Set to music by Mendelssohn and premiering in 1962, Balanchine’s production of the Shakespeare favorite was the first wholly original evening-length ballet that he choreographed in America. The cast features more than 80 dancers including 25 students from the School of American Ballet, with set design by David Hays, lighting by Mark Stanley (after the original lighting designs by Ronald Bates), and costumes by Karinska.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Inside NYCB: May 12, 2025 at 6:30pm
Inside NYCB is a one-hour onstage presentation exploring the history and inner workings of NYCB through performance and discussion. The program on May 12 will be hosted by Principal Dancer Tiler Peck and will highlight some of the most memorable ballerina roles in the Balanchine repertory including Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux and La Valse, among other works. Tickets for Inside NYCB are $29 and are available for purchase at nycballet.com, in person at the theater box office, and by phone at (212) 496-0600.

Family Saturdays: May 31, 2025 at 11:00am

On Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 11:00am, NYCB will present a one-hour Family Saturdays program that highlights the “ABC’s of NYCB.” Hosted by Megan Fairchild, Principal Dancer and Family Saturdays Creative Director, the presentation will explore the world of New York City Ballet through the letters of the alphabet, performed by company dancers and members of the NYCB orchestra in an interactive program designed for children and adults ages 5 and up. Family Saturdays tickets start at $29 per person and are required for infants, children, and adults. Priority seating for American Sign Language Interpretation is available for all Family Saturdays presentations. Tickets are currently on sale online at nycballet.com, in person at the theater box office, and by phone at (212) 496-0600.

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