American Ballet Theatre’s Angels and Demons Fall Gala, with Ashton’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits receiving its company premiere

ByGramilano Reading Time: 2 minutes
Whipped Cream - photo by Gene Schiavone, ABT
Fall Gala 2026 features an excerpt from Alexei Ratmansky’s Whipped Cream - photo by Gene Schiavone, ABT

Cynthia Erivo is honoured at the one-night, Halloween-themed evening in New York, which ends with Herman Cornejo in Le Spectre de la Rose and Chloe Misseldine and Aran Bell in the Act III pas de deux from Swan Lake.

American Ballet Theatre has announced the programme and casting for its 2026 Fall Gala, Angels and Demons, a one-night-only performance at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on Thursday 29 October. The evening honours the stage and screen artist Cynthia Erivo.

Curated by artistic director Susan Jaffe, the programme takes its cue from Halloween. The works have been chosen to explore celestial and devilish themes – light and dark, the ethereal and the mischievous – and will be hosted by principal dancers Thomas Forster and James Whiteside.

Three by Ashton

Frederick Ashton is the best-represented choreographer of the night, with three works. Daniel Camargo dances Dance of the Blessed Spirits, which enters ABT’s repertoire as a company premiere. Catherine Hurlin and Isaac Hernández perform the pas de deux from The Dream, and Christine Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III dance the Act III pas de deux from Sylvia.

Sylphs, dolls and a devil

Hee Seo and Joo Won Ahn dance an excerpt from Act II of La Sylphide, in Erik Bruhn’s staging after August Bournonville. The corps de ballet appears in an Act I excerpt from Alexei Ratmansky’s Whipped Cream, and Skylar Brandt and Roman Zhurbin dance from Act II of Enrique Martinez’s Coppélia.

The programme closes with Herman Cornejo and Léa Fleytoux in Michel Fokine’s Le Spectre de la Rose; Jake Roxander, Devon Teuscher, SunMi Park, Sierra Armstrong and Tyler Maloney in Agnes de Mille’s Three Virgins and a Devil; and Chloe Misseldine and Aran Bell in the Act III pas de deux from Kevin McKenzie’s Swan Lake.

Performance details

Thursday 29 October 2026, 6.30pm, David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, New York.
More information at abt.org/Fall-Gala.

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Graham Spicer, aka 'Gramilano', is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.

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