Met Opera

Set in a mythic Greek Arcadia of nymphs and shepherds, this ABT staging follows the deity Eros as he intervenes to unite the nymph Sylvia with a lovelorn shepherd. Léo Delibes' score is so beloved that Tchaikovsky reportedly said he'd never have composed Swan Lake had he heard it first.

American Ballet Theatre takes on Cervantes' tale of the wandering knight and his squire Sancho Panza, who aid the spirited Kitri and her young suitor. The choreography pulls from flamenco, classical bravura, and ensemble crowd work, with a fiery toreador and a colorful caravan of gypsies along the way. One of the marquee pieces in ABT's summer repertoire.

John Cranko's ballet adapts Pushkin's verse-novel, following the country-raised Tatiana as she falls hard for the worldly aristocrat Onegin. He dismisses her, a duel ends in tragedy, and what follows is a long arc through marriage, regret, and a final reckoning. Cranko's choreography puts Tatiana's strength and agency at the center.

Tchaikovsky's score. An enchanted princess. A prince's mistake. Of all the great classics in ABT's repertoire, Swan Lake remains the quintessential ballet, with the corps de ballet moving in magical unison as a line of glimmering swans. The romantic fable of dreamlike transformation does its eternal work.