American Ballet Theatre

"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
July 3, 2026

It was only July 3rd, but the audience seemed primed for an evening of fireworks when Jake Roxander made his highly anticipated complete “Don Quixote” debut—he had danced Act III in the all-hands-on-deck emergency “Don Quixote” the previous Wednesday.  The applause began during the overture (so great to hear Minkus getting his due for the wonderfully danceable score) and continued all

"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
July 1, 2026, matinee

Cy Doherty first performed the Don in 2022 as an apprentice, creating a remarkably vivid picture, both comic and tragic, of a befuddled but sincere visionary searching for an ideal.  He was equally vivid in this performance, though the new production has turned the iconic dreamer into a silly old man who just wants a young wife.  The traditional ballet is about the

"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 29, 2026

ABT’s newish version of “Don Quixote”, overseen by Director Susan Jaffe and regisseur Susan Jones, uses the lovely 1978 sets by Santo Loquasto, and most of the costumes, though the corps’ charming character shoes have been replaced by point shoes which meant that the corps’ Spanish flair in Act III lost the dynamic contrast with the more formal point work. Though the men have kept

"Onegin"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 27, 2026, evening

ABT’s final performance this season of John Cranko’s “Onegin” , based on the poem by Alexander Pushkin, was a feast of fine dancing, with Christine Shevchenko as Tatiana, Zimmi Cocker as her sister Olga, Jake Roxander as Lensky, and Jarod Curley debuting as the tortured Onegin.  This was a bitter-sweet debut, since the program was originally scheduled as Cory Stearns’ farewell before an

"Raymonda: Grand Pas Hongrois", "Firebird"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 21, 2026, matinee

There were feathers in both ballets danced at the Saturday matinee—lots of feathers in Ratmansky’s “Firebird” and a feather in Raymonda’s hair in Susan Jaffe’s new staging of the Grand Pas from Petipa’s “Raymonda”. The feathers in “Firebird” (costumes by Galina Solovyeva) had a flashy exoticism, so appropriate for Ratmansky’s post modern take on the

"Mozartiana", "Neo", "Firebird"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 18, 2026, evening

There were three very strong women, supported by three very fine men, in this performance.  Chloe Misseldine and Michael de la Nuez made their debuts in Balanchine’s  celestial “Mozartiana”, Christine Shevchenko, with James Whiteside, made her debut in Ratmansky’s “Neo”, a witty and physical pas de deux , and Catherine Hurlin and Daniel Camargo made their second appearances in Ratmansky’

"Othello: A Dance in Three Acts"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 10, 2026

ABT’s quest for seat-filling full-length ballets has in recent years focused on works based on literary works (“Crime and Punishment”, “Jane Eyre”, Virginia Woolf, “A Winter’s Tale”, etc.), with often disappointing results. There are few choreographers around who can spin choreographic gold from complex sources and “Don Quixotes” don’t turn up very often.  Of course,

"Mozartiana", "Nuages", "Firebird"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 14, 2026, matinee

The sold out audience enjoyed two ballets plus one brief pas de deux, each with its own distinct atmosphere and music.  Appropriately, nuages is French for clouds, which were floating in the background of the ballet Jiří Kylián set to Claude Debussy’s dreamy “Trois Nocturnes”. “Mozartiana”, to Tchaikovsky’s “Suite no. 4”, based on themes by Mozart, is another of Balanchine’

“Have We Met?!,” “Serenade after Plato’s Symposium,” “Theme and Variations”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 30, 2025

For one of the final programs of its fall season, American Ballet Theatre presented a study in contrasts: the world premiere of Juliano Nunes's "Have We Met?!" explored parallel love stories across a century, while George Balanchine's "Theme and Variations" reminded us what timeless classicism looks like. Sandwiched between them, Alexei Ratmansky's 2016

“The Kingdom of the Shades,” “Le Grand Pas de Deux,” “Rhapsody (Pas de Deux),” “The Sleeping Beauty, Act III”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 28, 2025

Sometimes fortune smiles on an audience. The second version of ABT’s “Classics to the Contemporary” program, which replaced the middle act pieces with Christian Spuck’s “Le Grand Pas de Deux” and an excerpt from Frederick Ashton’s “Rhapsody,” had a last-minute replacement for the opening

"Rodeo", "Le Grande Pas de Deux", "Rhapsody Pas de Deux", "Theme and Variations"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 31, 2025

ABT celebrated Halloween in grand style, handing out candy to the departing audience, holding a costume contest (I set next to the winning couple, a Venus fly-trap and a trumpet pitcher plant), and a program of tricks and treats (the trick was Christian Spuck’s comedy “Le Grand Pas de Deux” and the

"The Kingdom of the Shades", "Rhapsody Pas de Deux", "Grand Pas Classique", "The Sleeping Beauty, Act III"
American Ballet Theatre
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 25, 2025, evening

The program, entitled “Classics to the Contemporary”, had selections from three works ranging from the Shades scene from Marius Petipa’s “La Bayadère” (1877), the final act of his “The Sleeping Beauty” (1890), and a brief pas de deux from Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Rhapsody”