How to seem like someone who goes to the ballet all the time
Plus, the pope's latest art patronage.
The best method is to be someone who goes to the ballet all the time. The second best method is to fake it until you are.
I’ve encountered so many people who have expressed a desire to go to the ballet more frequently, but find themselves held back for various reasons: expense (though there are saving methods here that we can discuss another time), intimidation, lack of planning, lack of information, lack of confidence in an unfamiliar environment. The good news is that most of these friction points are easily overcome, and I am here to help.
Although I grew up studying ballet intensively and got a minor in dance at Barnard—which meant I was running around the city from 18 going to performances—I did have a lull period wherein I hardly found myself at dance shows. From my early twenties until about 27, I attended maybe one or two ballets a year, if that. I went back to my first class at Joffrey just before the pandemic hit New York. Then, in the fall of 2021, I saw Isabella Boylston in Giselle. And I remembered why, growing up, I’d spent so many hours in the studio, poured over Pointe magazine, and trawled the forums of dance.net, reading accounts of other users’ summer intensives like the aspirational content they were.
I take class on occasion, but my identity now is more firmly that of a critic than of a dancer. That means that I watch a lot of dance. Just this year, I’ve attended 36 dance performances; last year, my total was 54. The year before that, what now seems like a paltry (to me) 26.
Obviously, I feel strongly about this art form. I am also ardently against gatekeeping it—which is kind of the whole point of me writing this newsletter. I want more people to care about dance (and other arts) the way that I do. But I understand the hesitation some may have about getting into it. Hence: my guide to seeming like someone who goes to the ballet—which will, in effect, turn you into someone who does.
1. Pick your program
There is a strong chance, depending on where you live, that the majority of ballet performances near you are not full-length ballets. Meaning: You’re not going to be able to see Swan Lake anytime you want. Most ballet companies in the U.S. put on a handful of full-evening works a year, but more frequent are programs featuring anywhere from three to five different pieces. These tend to be non-narrative works, though they can be classical (like the 35-minute, 1908 ballet Les Sylphides) or contemporary (just about any Justin Peck piece). At times, they can have a semblance of story (like George Balanchine’s Apollo or Alexei Ratmansky’s recent The Naked King), though other times, they capture more of a sentiment (as with Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain) or a sense of form (think: Jerome Robbins’s Glass Pieces).
All this is to say that your options are likely more varied than you may think. If you’re looking for a good entry point, though, a full-length ballet (Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Giselle, etc.) is a solid start. Especially if you’re new to watching dance, a story can help ground you in your viewing experience.
2. Know the players
Sports fans understand that what happens on the field or court is far from the whole picture. Having background information about an athlete’s record, the stakes, and the history of their performance or their team adds to the experience of watching their performance. The same is true for dance.
Dance people (like me) don’t just see performances to see the show. They see them to see specific dancers. This is why I end up at multiple performances of the same pieces each summer during American Ballet Theatre’s residency at the Metropolitan Opera House. I’m invested in the individual “players.”
Following dancers on social media can make you more interested in their performance (the same way following an entrepreneur might make you more interested in whatever they’re selling). Of course, it also gives you a glimpse at their artistry.
Worth investigating, too, is a dancer’s history with a role. Maybe they’re debuting it for the first time, or maybe it’s the role for which they’re most celebrated. Maybe a member of the corps de ballet (the group of dancers who make up the majority of any company and perform ensemble roles) is dancing a soloist or even a principal part. That ups the stakes, too.
The more you get to know different dancers, the more fun it is to watch them as they continue on their careers and take on new parts. And as you pay attention to specific dancers, you develop your sense of taste as you become able to recognize the elements of a performance that most resonate with you (maybe you adore one dancer because they’re particularly emotive, while another excites you because of their athleticism).
3. Do your cursory research
I’m not saying you should know everything about a ballet before you see it. But it can help you to relax and have more context to what you’re seeing. If there’s a narrative, you’ll want to read the synopsis (until you have a firm grasp on understanding ballet pantomime). You can find this online, though it’s usually in the program, too. Look up choreographers, and you can get a sense of their body of work. A Balanchine piece will feel fundamentally different from a work recreated after a late 19th-century piece by Lev Ivanov or Marius Petipa, once you start to recognize their style. Is the choreographer alive or dead? What style were they trained in? All of these things make for excellent rabbitholes.
You might also enjoy listening to the score of a ballet before you see it to gain some familiarity with it—though that’s up to you. The discovery of a new favorite during a show is also a treat.
4. Practice good theater etiquette
You can go to a show alone. I encourage it, even. You should dress nice, though you don’t need to wear a ballgown. (Though if a show is in an opera house—in New York, that would be the Metropolitan Opera House, rather than the neighboring David H. Koch Theater—you are welcome to get fancy). Be mindful that you’ll be sitting for long stretches of time. Shapewear gets incredibly uncomfortable by the second act. Arrive with at least 30 minutes to spare, and know that, more likely than not, you will not be allowed to bring food or drink into the theater. You can, sometimes, pre-order a refreshment for intermission—which is a good call, given how long lines for the bar can get. Better drink fast, though. Turn your phone off or, at least, opt for a trusty combination of Do Not Disturb and airplane mode. Under no circumstances should you take your phone out, film, or take photos during the program. I’m so serious. No talking during the performance, though a quick whisper to your neighbor between pieces is okay if you must. You should be clapping, though. Sit all the way back into your chair—leaning forward obscures the view for the people behind you. Be courteous to your neighbors and stand up if they need to get past you to reach their seat. You can clap during the dancing, too—you might notice others do it during a particularly impressive moment—but you never want to be the only person clapping. The one time you can take photos (still discreetly and quickly) is during final bows. Don’t use flash! Tag the dancers in any photos you post to share your appreciation. And be prepared for bows to take quite a while; there may even be a second round of bows for the principals in front of the curtain. Stay until the lights come up. You won’t be able to linger long in the theater afterwards, so make sure you get any photos you wanted before the show or during intermission. I’m not above an outfit pic. Wait until you’re several blocks from the theater if you have to make any negative comments. You never know who could be in your immediate vicinity. Don’t be rude.
5. Tell your friends
One of the most important things you can do as a person who now goes to the ballet is bring other people to the ballet. We aren’t just about building individual connossieurship here. We are building community.
Now, a quick news drop:
I was very lucky to see Rosalía’s Lux tour two weeks ago, and I would be remiss not to commend her on the level of thought and intention behind the artistically minded choreography and design. The show featured a live orchestra (the Heritage Orchestra, a UK-based group which performs non-classical works) led by the very charismatic Yudania Gómez Heredia, who is based in Nürnberg and is a composer and organist in addition to being a conductor.
More controversial is Rosalía’s decision to perform on pointe in the beginning of the show—though unlike all the popstars and models doing ballet before her, this much is clear: she’s actually been studying ballet. You can tell by her lovely port de bras (her carriage of the arms) and by her ability to get over the box of her shoes. The French choreographic trio (La)Horde, who serve as artistic directors of Ballet National de Marseille, are behind much of the movement design of the concert and told the New York Times that pointe shoes were Rosalía’s own idea. Her teacher, who Rosalía shouted out at an early show, is Tatiana Yerakhavets, who became a prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus in 1991 and is now based in Barcelona, where she is the director of her own school. Yerakhavets herself was a student of Irina Savelyeva and Vera Shvetsova, two direct students of Agrippina Vaganova, the Russian dancer who developed the Vaganova method of ballet, which is studied worldwide. There is only one remaining direct pupil of Vaganova: 93-year-old Irina Kolpakova, who joined American Ballet Theatre as a coach in 1989. She was recently honored after a performance of Swan Lake.
Truly hats off to Rosalía—this is how you pay respect to an art form.
New Mozart just dropped, courtesy of the the National Library of France. The director of the Mozart Library at the International Mozarteum Foundation called the works for flute and harp the “most important Mozart discovery in decades.” Take a listen here.
Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan soon-to-be official music director of the New York Philharmonic, is fundraising for his home country after two devastating earthquakes. You can donate here—funds will go to the United Nations Development Programme.
Not only has the pope recently extolled the virtues of writing, he is also supporting art conservation efforts: the Vatican just broke ground on a five-year restoration of the Raphael Loggia, a corridor in the Apostolic Palace. It has not been touched in 500 years. The more than $14 million effort is financed by the Stephen A. Schwartzman Foundation, which is using a portion of that budget to digitize images of Raphael’s work so the greater public can appreciate it and to endow a training program for art restorers, ABC reports.
Gustav Mahler’s granddaughter says she’s trying to get a memorial to the composer made in Vienna. She also mentioned to The Times that filmmakers are reaching out to her to try to find lost scores of her grandmother, Alma Schindler, who gave up her dreams of composing when she married Mahler. “There is a whole big rethink about Alma going on,” she says. More to investigate here…
David Sedaris is not only a paying user of Duolingo—but he pays for the AI-powered highest tier of the app, Duolingo Max. He writes about his coverations with the purple-haired, Daria-esque character Lily in The Guardian.
It seems like Europe is over protesting Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. (The Met’s Peter Gelb is holding firm, though).
A good question, presented by The Atlantic: Did Marcel Duchamp ruin art?
That’s all for now. I’ll be back soon with my cultural digest for Q2 of 2026. And who knows—maybe some more how-to guides on how to become a better patron of the arts. Ciao! ▲