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Forget awards season, the spring 2026 ballet season is upon us and fans both old and new have a chance to catch three of the top ballet companies in the world, without leaving the U.S.

The New York City Ballet (NYCB), American Ballet Theatre (ABT) and the San Francisco Ballet have all unveiled their spring 2026 programming, and you can book tickets online to ensure your seat to see one of the most beloved and enduring art forms in person.

How to Buy Ballet Tickets Online

When attending the ballet used to mean lining up at the box office or will-call window for a chance to score seats, you can now buy ballet tickets easily online, through the respective company websites or through third-party sites like Stubhub, Vivid Seats and SeatGeek.

All three sites offer tickets to the New York City and San Francisco ballets that you can purchase online and download to your phone, for fast and easy access — no more annoying physical paper tickets to print out. All three sites also guarantee the authenticity of their tickets, and guarantee that you’ll have the stubs in hand in time for your event, or your money back. Because these are third-party resale sites, they’ll often have tickets available for sold-out events too. In our experience, these tickets are sometimes at face value or even lower prices, as the time of the event approaches.

Buying group tickets to the ballet? Vivid Seats has a rewards program that gives you your eleventh ticket free after you buy ten tickets online. See more details at VividSeats.com.

The New York City Ballet was founded in 1948, and is one of the premiere ballet programs in the world. Dancing out of David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, the NYCB’s spring 2026 schedule features Divertimento No. 15, composed by Mozart in 1777 and first staged by renowned Georgian-American ballet choreographer George Balanchine (of The Nutcracker fame) in 1956. Divertimento No. 15 was also famously the scheduled performance at Lincoln Center the night of Balanchine’s death on April 30, 1983, with the company choosing to continue with the piece to honor the choreographer.

Other works include Edwaard Liang’s Distant Cries, which returns to the NYCB stage after more than two decades. Per a release, new works include the world premiere of Principal Dancer Tiler Peck’s second creation for the company and the NYCB premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s, Continuum. Two classic story ballets will also be performed this spring: Firebird and Coppélia, the later of which will see Principal Dancer Megan Fairchild deliver her farewell performance.

How to Buy American Ballet Theatre Tickets Online

The American Ballet Theatre was founded in 1939 with its principal venue at the Metropolitan Opera House. The company is moving to the David H. Koch Theater, however, this March, with a repertoire that is set to include Lar Lubovitch’s Othello: A Dance in Three Acts; Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird (based on the Stravinsky classical music favorite); Balanchine’s Mozartiana; and Raymonda: Grand Pas Hongrois, from the third act of Marius Petipa’s full-length Raymonda.

How to Buy San Francisco Ballet Tickets Online

The San Francisco Ballet, meantime, is celebrating its milestone 50th anniversary season with a number of special performances and one-off events. Regular performances this spring, meantime, include the iconic Don Quixote and Bournonville’s La Sylphide, along with a number of newer contemporary works.

Though it became the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra (SFBO) in 1975 — hence the anniversary — the company was actually founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet, making it the oldest ballet company in the United States.

Of course, the dance world has been thrust into the spotlight recently after actor Timothee Chalamet offhandedly suggested in an interview that “no one cares” about ballet or opera. New York City Ballet principal dancers Fairchild and Sara Mearns were among those who responded to Chalamet’s perceived slight, with Fairchild writing on Instagram that she forgives the Oscar-nominated actor, even if he’s mistaken. “It’s not even the idea that he dissed ballet and opera that bothers me; It’s the suggestion that he had the talent and aptitude to pursue these Olympic-level artistic fields in the first place,” she said. “Timmy, I didn’t realize you were a world-class dancer or opera singer who simply chose not pursue it because acting’s more popular!” 

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Meet the Author

Tim Chan is the VP of Commerce at Penske Media, overseeing fashion, lifestyle and streaming coverage across marquee brands like Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and WWD, among others. Previously, Chan was the first-ever Lifestyle Editor at Rolling Stone, covering all things fashion, culture, and travel through an entertainment lens. In addition to PMC, his bylines over the years have appeared in L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Italia, Vogue Korea, i-D, and more. Chan has also consulted for a number of fashion brands, advising them on media and marketing strategy. He graduated from Columbia University with a master’s degree in journalism.