Watching Ballet in New York

[lollylamb1]

I am planning a trip to New York in May and would definitely like to see some ballet.

 

I can see there are some things on at the Met with ABT, but thought forum members may know a lot more than me! 

 

1) How easy is it to buy tickets, how do I go about this? 

2) What other companies, performances do you recommend. I love watching ballet schools and demonstrations of technique, any info about this?

3) The ABT gala is on at the time I am going, is this impossible to get tickets for unless you are a sponsor or celebrity?

 

Thanks!

[toursenlair]

it is usually easy to get tickets for ABT performances at the Met. Individual tix don't go on sale till March,  over their website. It's better to sit somewhere back of about row J if you're on the main floor, as closer seats are not raked. There seems to be a Misty Copeland phenomenon going on, so if you want to see one of her performances you should buy early. Also ABT does dynamic pricing, so ticket prices go up on anything that is selling well.

If you are there for the ABT gala, that means NYCB is also in season. You should go see as many of their performances as possible. If you are under 29 they have a special "$29 tix for under 29s" or something like that. I think those tix are only available on the day of the performance, like rush seats, but they can be a great deal and NYCB doesn't usually sell out. The sight lines in the David H Koch theatre where NYCB performs are excellent. You can buy tix from the NYCB website.

You should also check out the Joyce Theatre.

School of American Ballet has an end of year performance, but usually towards the end of May and I believe it is hard to get tix.

 

Lincoln Center box office across the street from LIncoln Center often has half price tix for performances close to the performance date (day before).

Edited December 6, 2015 by toursenlair

[lollylamb1]

Thank you very much for this information, very helpful. 

[Don Q Fan]

I always try to go when NYCB and ABT are on together (coincides with The Met Costume Institute new summer exhibition too!!) in 2016 NYCB are performing Vienna Waltzes I really want to see this as it is seldom performed and not in Europe due to copyright issues with the Strauss music.  I've seen it once and dearly hope to go in 2016 to see it again.  NYCB tickets are on sale now but you have to wait a bit longer for ABT as mentioned above by Tours en L'air.  I usually sit in 2nd circle in both theatres and the views are good. I did find that NYCB tickets are twice the price of ABTs though!

[A frog]

If you're planning to go to three or more performances, you can get a subscription to NYCB picking the performances you want, the tickets don't even have to be in the same price band, you'd then get a small discount. It's not avail ale on the cheapest tickets though.

When I went, I had no issue buying tickets to ABT not quite at the last minute but close, I prioritised NYCB as the ABT repertoire is quite similar to the RB's (and in the case of La Bayadère it was actually the exact same production) with even sometimes RB dancers as guests, and they tend to dance the same thing everyday for a week whereas going to NYCB three days in a row can mean three different programmes.