Alonzo King Lines Ballet Announces 2026 Spring Season

Alonzo King LINES Ballet hsd announced programming for the company’s 2026 Spring Season highlighted by a landmark world premiere collaboration with astonishing multi-Grammy Award-winning bassist, vocalist and composer, Esperanza Spalding, scheduled for April 11-19 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

The spring season program will also honor visionary female musical artist, the late Alice Coltrane, with an encore presentation of Alonzo King’s sublime meditation, Ode to Alice Coltrane. Paired together, both works form a program that celebrates two extraordinary female musicians and the transformative power of collaboration across generations.

Esperanza Spalding and contemporary ballet pioneer Alonzo King will unite for a world premiere collaboration featuring spalding’s intricate harmonies and soulful improvisations and King’s celebrated choreographic language, renowned for its sculptural beauty, emotional depth, and expansive sense of space. Together with the inspiring dancers of LINES Ballet, they will craft a dynamic dialogue between music and movement that promises to be unlike anything else on stage today. spalding will perform live with LINES Ballet at all six scheduled performances.

Hailed as one of the most imaginative artists of her generation, Esperanza Spalding has won five Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist in 2011, making history as the first jazz artist ever to receive the honor. She has since carved out a career defined by fearless innovation, moving fluidly between jazz, classical, funk, R&B, and experimental traditions. National Public Radio called her the “21st Century’s jazz genius” who has “shown her capacity to operate irrespective of borders,” redefining what it means to be a composer, instrumentalist, and bandleader. That same spirit of artistic boundary-pushing makes her an ideal partner for King, whose choreographic legacy is deeply rooted in transformative collaborations across disciplines.

The April program will also include LINES Ballet’s critically praised Ode to Alice Coltrane, venerating the groundbreaking composer and musician whose music continues to inspire artists across the world. King’s Ode to Alice Coltrane is set to Coltrane’s transformative music, embodying the universal love and spirituality that radiated from her pioneering career as a composer, pianist, harpist, and spiritual leader. Her iconic works—including Journey in Satchidananda (named one of Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums), A Monastic Trio, Universal Consciousness, and Ptah, the El Daoud—continue to inspire generations. Commended by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a spiritual consummation of sorts” and a “conversation thrilling to behold,” the work highlights both Coltrane’s enduring influence and King’s ability to channel her transcendent artistry into dance.

Experience the Magic of Dance: Alonzo King LINES Ballet Family Experience

Parents, caregivers, and children (ages 4-12) are invited to join LINES Ballet teaching artists on Sunday, April 12, from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for a Family Experience, a memorable afternoon of movement and creativity, plus an exclusive sneak peek of company dancers in rehearsal. The LINES Ballet Family Experience is perfect for families eager to explore creativity and foster a deeper connection to dance together. Tickets are $15 per person and available online: https://givebutter.com/familyexp2026secondsession.

About Alonzo King LINES Ballet

Forty-three years of outstanding, multi-disciplinary collaborations for the stage place the LINES Ballet company at the forefront of artistic innovation in ballet. With each collaboration, LINES Ballet investigates deeply rooted affinities between Western and Eastern classical forms, elemental materials, the natural world, and the human spirit. At LINES Ballet, the artistic investigation is infinite and essential—for it leads to what unites us as human beings: empathy, joy, and the ability to transcend. 

LINES Ballet’s annual spring and fall home seasons, and global tours, share this vision of transformative, revelatory dance with 50,000+ audience members worldwide every year. The company has been featured at prestigious venues including the Venice Biennale, Monaco Dance Forum, Maison de la Danse de Lyon, the Edinburgh International Festival, Montpellier Danse, the Wolfsburg Festival, Holland Dance Festival, the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, and last season at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. Recently in July, Alonzo King LINES Ballet performed to enthusiastic public and press acclaim at the American Dance Festival in Durham and Vail Dance Festival.

Major support for Alonzo King LINES Ballet is provided by Anonymous, BMO, Marcia Grand, Mellon Foundation, Lisa Stone Pritzker Family Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, and the Skyline Foundation.