2026-27 Staff Picks

With a rich array of ballets both treasured and new, expressing the artistic visions of choreographers from across the decades and into the future, and featuring scores that represent the gamut of musical styles, the challenge with a flex package for the 26-27 Season can be knowing where to begin. In the tradition of brick and mortar video and book stores, we've turned to the most knowledgeable members of our community to make thoughtful recommendations: the dancers, musicians, artisans, and artistic staff who know the repertory inside and out.

In this first edition of 26-27 Staff Picks, Corps de Ballet Member Laine Habony, Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, and Principal French Horn Dan Wions share how they might build a flex package for the upcoming year. Whether you're ready to subscribe today or you’re considering becoming a season ticket holder closer to the beginning of performances, now is the perfect time to learn about the benefits of a subscription, and to take advantage of all that the 26-27 Season has to offer. 

My first pick is George Balanchine’s Jewels. I have had the honor of dancing in all of the sections, each one presenting its own enjoyable dancing (and watching) experience. Each “jewel” is completely unique, but still lies within the classic Balanchine realm: you get elegance and quiet beauty from Emeralds, the playful and exciting Rubies, and pure regalness from Diamonds. Diamond demi-soloist is one of my all time favorite roles to dance!

I'm choosing the All Balanchine III program because of its variety—I truly think you get to see all the different facets of Balanchine’s creativity. The program opens with an absolute classic Balanchine Black & White, The Four Temperaments, and builds with each following ballet. It’s like watching television go from black and white to technicolor. The night closes with Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, one of the most fun to dance and watch—nothing like a little humorous theater to end the night!

And lastly, I'd select the All Balanchine IV program (are you sensing a theme here?). Starting the program off with a bang is Allegro Brilliante; known as one of the most difficult ballets to dance for the whole cast—and I can attest, it is hard!—nothing gives you more energy to push than its incredible Tschaikovsky score. Next is Le Tombeau de Couperin, which is an incredible opportunity to show off the corps and the wonderful shapes and formations we are often making behind the principal dancers—it’s all community and teamwork. To close is Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, a real behemoth of a ballet. Each of the four movements has its own vibe, with sweeping costumes and moody atmospheres. You almost feel as if you’re watching four separate pieces, but the musical drama is the common thread throughout. 

All Balanchine I is the rare opportunity when we can share a lost Balanchine work with our audiences—especially one staged by Suzanne Farrell, the original ballerina it was choreographed on. Pithoprakta is an extraordinarily modern piece, even for Balanchine, and it has not been performed by NYCB in nearly 60 years. It was made during one of Balanchine's most prolific and creative periods. This program will give us an even broader idea of the range and breadth of his lexicon.  

Tiler Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, and Justin Peck are our top three in-house choreographic voices, and they're all featured on the Contemporary Choreography III program. As creators, they know our company, our dancers, and our audiences the best. This is a program of today, and it speaks to the time in which we are living, like no other program. It’s current, vibrant, and alive, and shows NYCB at the global forefront of creative innovation. 

The juxtaposition of two ballets on the Eclectic NYCB III program intrigues me: Jerome Robbins’ Moves, from 1959 and rarely performed since the choreographer's death, and Mauro Bigonzetti’s Oltremare from 2008. Both will be making a return to the stage after long absences. Robbins and Bigonzetti each have ways of speaking to human existence and community within their work, and I can imagine these two ballets as unique extensions of one another—Moves as the silent, abstract precursor to Oltemare's bold and vibrant community of immigrants. 

When I was young, a friend gave me a "Greatest Hits of the French Horn" CD as a birthday present, which included the nocturne from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Upon hearing that, I knew I was going to be a professional horn player. Coincidentally, it was the first ballet I performed upon beginning my job here at NYCB. Little did I know, the choreography for that beautiful horn solo involves a donkey dancing onstage! 

Romeo & Juliet is at the top of the list of favorites for lovers of ballet—and of classical music. Prokofiev's brass writing is often very rewarding, and Romeo and Juliet includes perhaps his most glorious moments for the horn, with soaring and powerful phrases in the high range of the instrument. It gives me a chance to play with different personalities, ranging from romance to playfulness to eminent terror. 

I’ve particularly enjoyed Tiler Peck's choreography during the 25-26 Season, for which the great Hilary Hahn collaborated with us as a guest soloist on Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole. I have always found myself fascinated with the way Tiler can abruptly alternate between athleticism and grace, and her choreography on this project did not disappoint. I'm very excited to see what her new premiere on the Eclectic NYCB II program has in store for us!

An honorable mention [since it is only included on standard package #11 and not available on flex subscriptions]: Adrian Danchig-Waring will be dancing his last dance with NYCB in October. We recently finished a run of Shostakovich's second piano concerto (the score for Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH); in the second movement, Adrian and Unity Phelan offer one of the most captivating love stories I've ever seen in any medium. I was thankful I only played one note in that movement so I could take it in. Adrian has been one of my favorite male dancers since I began in 2019; with scores by Stravinsky, Hindemith, and Brahms, I can't wait to “see” Adrian's farewell, though I will miss seeing him onstage.