Sacramento Ballet
2026/27 Season Guide
Legacy in Motion
Sacramento Ballet's 2026/27 season gives the city five different ways into ballet: a mixed repertory opener with Beatles-inflected music and company history, the annual holiday force of Nutcracker, a midseason program about love and new artistic direction, the classical ghost story Giselle, and Beer & Ballet, the company-artist showcase that may be the easiest entry point for people who don't usually think of themselves as ballet people.
This page gathers the season in one place. Start with the event that sounds most like you.
Long & Winding Road
October 23–25, 2026
A mixed repertory season opener featuring Stanton Welch’s neoclassical work set to baroque-inspired Beatles arrangements, a Balanchine piece to be announced, and a legacy work honoring Ron Cunningham.
This is the best starting point for people who want variety rather than one long story ballet. It gives the season its opening argument: music, repertory, local memory, and transition.
Best for: curious first-timers, returning dance audiences, Beatles listeners, and people interested in Sacramento Ballet’s next chapter.
Nutcracker
December 12–24, 2026
The big holiday doorway.
Nutcracker is the Sacramento Ballet event most likely to bring in people who may not attend dance at any other time of year. Children, families, live music, holiday ritual, and a familiar score make it the season’s broadest public-facing production.
Best for: families, first ballet memories, holiday outings, and people who want the most familiar title on the calendar.
Wild Sweet Love
March 5–7, 2027
A midseason program with Julia Feldman’s Hearts, the 20th anniversary of Trey McIntyre’s Wild Sweet Love, and a new work selected by Artistic Director Tiit Helimets.
This is the season’s pulse check: contemporary energy, emotional range, popular music, company-rooted choreography, and a glimpse of new artistic direction.
Best for: people who want ballet with feeling, musical variety, and less holiday formality.
Giselle
April 9–11, 2027
Sacramento Ballet’s classical ghost story.
Giselle is beautiful, but not soft. It is a ballet about deception, collapse, revenge, mercy, and the strange afterlife of betrayal. The first act belongs to human damage. The second act belongs to the dead.
Best for: people who want classical ballet, romantic drama, live music, supernatural atmosphere, and beauty with consequences.
Beer & Ballet
May 27–30, 2027
The company-artist showcase.
Beer & Ballet is one of the clearest matches for what this site follows: dancers as makers, original work, shorter pieces, visible personality, and a less formal route into serious dance.
Best for: curious newcomers, returning fans, people who like new work, and anyone who wants ballet to feel more intimate and human-scaled.
How to Choose
If you are new to ballet
Start with Long and Winding Road or Beer & Ballet.
Both offer variety. Both are easier to enter than a full-length classical story ballet. Both give you more than one way to connect.
If you are bringing children or family
Choose Nutcracker.
It is familiar, seasonal, and built to welcome the widest audience.
If you want contemporary energy
Choose Wild Sweet Love.
It is likely the best match for people who want ballet to feel emotionally direct and musically open.
If you want the classical experience
Choose Giselle.
It is the season’s major story ballet and the deepest dramatic title on the calendar.
If you want to understand the company
See Long and Winding Road, then return for Beer & Ballet.
The first shows repertory, history, and direction. The second shows company artists making work from inside the organization.
Our Suggested Path
If you are ballet-curious but not sure where to begin:
1. Long and Winding Road
Begin with a mixed program. Let the season introduce itself through variety.
2. Wild Sweet Love
Return for a program with more emotional and contemporary charge.
3. Beer & Ballet
End with the company at its most immediate: shorter works, original choreography, and a more relaxed frame.
Add Nutcracker if you want the holiday tradition.
Add Giselle if you want the full classical ghost story.