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American Ballet Theatre
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Coppélia Misty Copeland performs a grand jete center stage in an orange ruffled dress during American Ballet Theater's Don Quixote, with dancers and musicians watching in the background.
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Formerly:
(1939–57) Ballet Theatre
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Coppélia
Coppélia Grand jeté from Coppélia, choreographed by Enrique Martínez and performed by the American Ballet Theatre.

American Ballet Theatre

American ballet company
Also known as: ABT, Ballet Theatre
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Last updated
•History

News •

Segerstrom Center for the Arts set to open $1M studio in Santa Ana • Oct. 29, 2026, 7:44 PM ET (Los Angeles Times)
Wunderkind Goes From ‘Dance Moms’ to Choreographing for Ballet Theater • Oct. 27, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (New York Times)

American Ballet Theatre, ballet company based in New York City and having an affiliated school. It was founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant and presented its first performance on January 11, 1940. Chase was director, with Oliver Smith, from 1945 to 1980. The dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov was artistic director from 1980 to 1989. Smith and Jane Hermann held the post from 1990 to 1992, when Kevin McKenzie became artistic director.

Works were created for the company by such choreographers as Antony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Michael Kidd, Eliot Feld, Twyla Tharp, Glen Tetley, and Mikhail Baryshnikov; Michel Fokine revived many of his masterpieces for the company and created Bluebeard (1941) and Russian Soldier (1942). Such dancers as Alicia Alonso, Baryshnikov, Erik Bruhn, Misty Copeland, Anton Dolin, André Eglevsky, Cynthia Gregory, Rosella Hightower, Nora Kaye, John Kriza, Hugh Laing, Natalia Makarova, Alicia Markova, Ivan Nagy, Janet Reed, Violette Verdy, and Igor Youskevitch were members of the company.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.