Curriculum & Tuition

Curriculum:

At the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, our students are trained with ABT’s National Training Curriculum, which combines scientific principles with elements of classical French, Italian, and Russian schools of ballet. The goal of our Curriculum is to train students to use their bodies correctly by educating them on anatomy, kinetics, coordination, and alignment. Artistically, our Curriculum strives to provide for students both a rich knowledge of classical ballet technique and the ability to adapt to all styles of dance.

As each level follows our carefully planned Curriculum throughout the year, students are expected to attend all their assigned classes.

Tuition and Scholarships:

Tuition is $8,550 for students in Upper 1; $10,350 for students in Upper 2; and $11,550 for students in Upper 3. A limited number of merit and financial aid options are available for the ABT JKO School Pre-Professional Division. Additional information available upon acceptance.

Levels & Schedules

Each level of the Pre-Professional Division is designed to accommodate both the developmental needs of the age group and the academic schedules of our students. Detailed information for each level is outlined below.

Auditions & Admissions

Acceptance to the Pre-Professional Division of the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School is by audition only. Dancers ages 12-18 may audition for the 2026-2027 school year by attending select auditions on ABT’s Summer Intensive National Audition Tour or by submitting a video audition. Information about the in-person audition and video audition submissions can be found below.

Please direct any questions regarding the ABT JKO School Pre-Professional Division to jkoschool@abt.org.

Faculty & Musicians

Led by Artistic Director Stella Abrera, the faculty of the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School includes members of ABT’s Artistic Staff, alumni, graduates of the ABT/NYU Master’s Program in Ballet Pedagogy, and other prominent teachers. Learn more about our faculty by clicking on the links below.

Susan Jaffe, ABT Artistic Director

Stella Abrera, Artistic Director, ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School

Faculty

Musicians

Each class at the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School is accompanied by one of our accomplished musicians.

Michael Cherry, Stephanie Chun, John Epperson, Shimako Horii, Sofiya Leavsie, Renee Ong, Benjamin Pawlak, Dmitry Polischuk, Victor See Yuen, Mihoko Suzuki, Laura Tishchenko, Mira Tsidulko, Raisa Umanskaya, Tracy Yang

Alumni

Alumni of the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School currently account for 35% of the dancers in ABT’s main Company, including:

ABT JKO School graduates have also gone on to dance with many renowned ballet companies both domestic and international, such as the ABT Studio Company, The Washington Ballet, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, and others.

American Ballet Theatre – Bringing Dance to America and American Dance to the World