About

The School of American Ballet (SAB) Summer Course is the five-week flagship summer training program of the official school of New York City Ballet, housed at Lincoln Center in New York City. Founded by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, SAB is the preeminent classical ballet school in the United States, and the Summer Course — offered continuously since 1938 — is its primary point of entry for intermediate and advanced students ages 12–18 from around the world.

The 2026 Summer Course runs June 29 through July 31. Students train six days per week in SAB's studios at Lincoln Center in a curriculum encompassing ballet technique, pointe, partnering, variations, character, contemporary, music, weight training, and Pilates, all grounded in the Balanchine aesthetic — strongly rooted in Russian classicism and emphasizing precision, control, expansiveness, speed, and musicality. Faculty are SAB's year-round instructors joined by guest teachers from New York City Ballet. During the final two weeks, the most advanced summer students work with promising young choreographers to create and perform new works in a studio showing. Culturally, students are introduced to New York through chaperoned outings including tours of Lincoln Center and Q&A sessions with NYCB dancers and SAB alumni.

Approximately 200 students live in SAB's on-site Meredith Willson Residence Hall — shared with the Juilliard School — under 24-hour supervision by professional Student Life staff. Most Summer Course students reside on campus; for families, this is one of the more logistically straightforward of the elite ballet summer programs given the fully residential infrastructure.

The Summer Course also functions as SAB's primary recruitment mechanism for its Winter Term. Faculty assess all summer students as candidates for year-round training, and the majority of SAB's intermediate and advanced Winter Term students — who go on to careers at NYCB and companies worldwide — are recruited through the Summer Course. Admission is by audition only, either in person on the National Audition Tour or by video. Merit-based scholarships and need-based financial aid are both available.

For a serious young ballet dancer, the combination of Balanchine training, NYCB proximity, Lincoln Center facilities, and the pipeline to year-round study makes SAB's Summer Course one of the two or three most consequential summer programs in American ballet.