American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is one of the world’s great classical ballet companies. U.S. Congress named it “America’s National Ballet Company.” It dances all forms of ballet, but tends towards grand classical ballets. ABT’s home theater is the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, where it dances a full summer season. It dances a brief fall season in Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.
ABT Studio Company is a second company of future star dancers and choreographers.
Latin Dancers
A leader in ballet diversity, some ABT dancers achieve global fame and enter popular culture.
2023-24 Principal Dancers:
- Daniel Camargo is from Sorocaba, Brazil. 🇧🇷
- Misty Copeland from Kansas City, Missouri is the most famous American ballet dancer since Baryshnikov. She’s not dancing much now, but broke the mold for all dancers of color. Thank you Misty! 🇺🇸
- Herman Cornejo, a student of Julio Bocca, is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. 🇦🇷
- Calvin Royal III is from Tampa, Florida. 🇺🇸
2023-24 Soloists:
- Luciana Paris, Julio Bocca’s former dance partner, is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. 🇦🇷
Director of Repertoire Carlos Lopez is from Madrid, Spain. @carloslopeznewyork 🇪🇸
ABT Legends
Mikhail Baryshnikov, the iconic ballet dancer of the 1970s and 80s, is Latvian. He danced for ABT from 1974-78 right after defecting, and returned as an artistic director from 1980-89. His never-ending leaps stick in the mind. He just stuck in the air. Baryshnikov collaborated with so many artists that he lifted the entire dance scene.
Carlos Acosta, 2003 guest artist, was the first Black principal Royal Ballet dancer. 🇨🇺
Julio Bocca (Interview), the “Latin Baryshnikov,” was a Principal dancer from 1985-2006. 🇦🇷
American Ballet Theatre in New York City
MAY
Classical Ballet
ABT Studio Company dances New York premieres of Amy Hall Garner, Jamar Roberts, and James Whiteside; plus an excerpt of Ratmansky’s “The Seasons” and classical and neoclassical favorites; at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, Manhattan; from Wednesday-Sunday, May 1-5, 2024. joyce.org
JUNE
Classical Ballet
American Ballet Theatre’s Summer 2024 Season explores the many forms of love in Cranko’s “Onegin,” the New York Premiere of McGregor’s “Woolf Works,” McKenzie’s “Swan Lake,” MacMillan’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and Wheeldon’s “Like Water for Chocolate,” and an ABTKids family performance; at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center; from June 18 – July 20, 2024. abt.org
ABT dances John Cranko’s “Onegin” (1965), based on Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin,” to Tchaikovsky, with costumes by Santo Loquasto; at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center; from June 18-22, 2024. From $33. Brazilian Principal Daniel Camargo dances on June 18 and 21. metopera.org 🇧🇷
ABT Studio Company Steps Into the Future of Dance and Choreography at The Joyce Theater
JOYCE THEATER, Chelsea, Manhattan 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 🇨🇦 🇯🇵 🇵🇭 🇰🇷 🇻🇪
World Ballet Day 2023 Takes You Behind the Scenes at the World’s Leading Ballet Companies
STREAMING, November 1, 2023 ~ See some of the world’s most famous dancers, in the world’s most famous ballet companies, backstage at some of the world’s most famous theaters.
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American Ballet Theatre’s Fall Season is a Grand Tour of Recent Ballet History
DAVID H. KOCH THEATER at LINCOLN CENTER ~ Seven ballets in three programs that provide an epic tour of periods in ballet history.
October 18-29, 2023
GALA Tuesday, October 24, 2023
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Continue Reading American Ballet Theatre’s Fall Season is a Grand Tour of Recent Ballet History
American Ballet Theatre
ABT dances two seasons at Lincoln Center:
- Metropolitan Opera House (Summer)
- David H. Koch Theater (Fall)
Ballet Theatre was founded in New York City in 1939, by Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith. It formed out of the Mordkin Ballet. Mikhail Mordkin (1880-1944) was a former Bolshoi ballet master. The Company changed its name to American Ballet Theatre in 1957. It moved to the Metropolitan Opera House in 1977.
Mikhail Baryshnikov was artistic director from 1980-1989. Danish Principal Dancer Kevin McKenzie became artistic director in 1992. Alexie Ratmansky, former Bolshoi Ballet Director and MacArthur Fellow, was artist-in-residence from 2009-2023.
In 2004, ABT’s ballet school became the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. American Ballet Theatre was designated “America’s National Ballet Company” by the U.S. Congress in 2006.
Susan Jaffe became artistic director in 2022. @susanjaffeofficial
Tickets and More
Tickets are sold by presenting theaters.
Social Media
Twitter @ABTBallet
Instagram @abtofficial @abtschool