Our professional company performs at the Civic Center Music Hall, located at 201 N Walker Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73102 in downtown Oklahoma City.
We also hold performances at the Susan E. Brackett Dance Center at 6800 N Classen Blvd, Oklahoma City, OK 73116.
Doors open 30 minutes prior to the start of the performance. Be sure to also allow yourself plenty of time to park and find your seat!
Due to the fact that most of our performances are in downtown Oklahoma City, parking can sometimes be a challenge. Be mindful of traffic, construction, or special events in the area. Street parking is limited, but there are many private lots in the area. We tend to defer to the Civic Center’s Directions and Parking page on where and how to park. Most lots downtown do charge for event parking, so we recommend bringing $20 in cash just in case.
Seasons for our professional company typically consist of four to five productions.
Tickets can be purchased from the Oklahoma City Ballet Ticket Office by calling our Box Office at (405) 848-TOES (8637).
Tickets can also be purchased at the Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City at 201 N Walker or by calling their Box Office at (405) 594-8300.
Student “Rush” Discounts are available at the Civic Center Box Office one hour prior to a performance. A valid student ID must be presented to use this discount. One ticket per valid ID.
We also offer a military ticket discount in gratitude to the men and women who serve in our military. Please be prepared to show a valid military ID.
We appreciate our season ticket holders! We offer 2 different types of Season Packages. They are available usually May through February. Please call our Box Office at (405) 848-8637 for any questions.
For help refunding or exchanging a ticket, please call our Box Office at (405) 848-8637.
Donations can be made online here. You can also donate via phone at (405) 843-9898 or mail a check to the following address (please make checks payable to Oklahoma City Ballet or OKC Ballet):
Oklahoma City Ballet
Attention: Development Dept.
6800 N. Classen Blvd.
Oklahoma City, OK 73116
There are always plenty of opportunities to help support Oklahoma City Ballet. Beyond donating, you can lend a hand to our organization through our Sponsor a Dancer program and more. Check out our support page to explore ways to get involved!
Typically, young dancers start ballet training as young as three years of age. Once you’ve got the hang of walking, you can start dancing.
Becoming a professional dancer takes years of training. Once a dancer has advanced through the required classes, the dancer then auditions to join a professional company.
Although the amount of training and practice it can take to go en pointe can vary, dancers typically reach this benchmark by the age of twelve. In order to pull this off, dancers must heavily train to strengthen the feet and lower legs or else risk potential lasting injury.
With very rare exceptions, men do not dance en pointe or use pointe shoes. A man will only dance en pointe in a specialist character role that requires it.
While the lifespan of a pair of pointe shoes can vary, most dancers can go through at least one pair in a single performance.
Male ballet dancers are referred to as danseurs.
The ballet dance style began in the Italian Renaissance courts during the 15th and 16th centuries. Ballet spread from Italy to France and Russia where it would be developed into a concert dance form. The Académie Royale de Musique was founded in 1669 by King Louis XIV, from which the Paris Opera Ballet would develop as the first professional ballet company.
Much of modern ballet was developed in France, and the terms have been handed down over generations. No matter what a dancer’s first language may be, all ballet dancers are united by the universal terms for movements.
You should clap anytime you feel moved to do so! When the dancers are pulling off spectacular moves, it’s perfectly acceptable to cheer the dancers on with storms of applause or shouts of “bravo” and “brava”.
Superstition holds that wishing a performer “good luck” will bring quite the opposite. While actors tell each other to “break a leg”, ballet dancers say “merde” before a performance. The term translates in French to a not-so-polite word for horse manure, as 19th-century patrons of the Paris Opera Ballet would arrive in horse-drawn carriages. If the Palais Garnier was covered in manure at the front, you had a packed audience.
Most ballet performances are divided into two acts with one intermission in the middle. Triple bill performances have three acts with an intermission between each act.
There are no age or skill requirements for our community classes.
Our community classes are open to the public, so the number of students in attendance can vary.
We have classes in ballet, modern dance, and yoga that are open to the public as well as classes through our community outreach programs.
Class times range from beginning at 2:00 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. on weeknights, and from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Please see our complete schedule of classes here.
The Susan E. Brackett Dance Center is located at 6800 N Classen Blvd, Oklahoma City, OK 73116.
Oklahoma City Ballet has been the city’s professional ballet company since 1972, when it was founded by Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov. As the resident dance company of the Civic Center Music Hall, Oklahoma City Ballet currently boasts talented dancers from around the world.
Yvonne Chouteau was one of the “Five Moons”, the celebrated Native American prima ballerinas of Oklahoma. As a founder of our organization, our first artistic director, and a prominent member of the Oklahoma community, our dance school is named in her honor.
Live accompaniment is provided by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
Oklahoma City Ballet’s artistic vision has been guided for the past 11 years by Robert Mills. Mr. Mills began his career at Oklahoma City Ballet as a dancer during the 1994–1995 season and has since gone on to serve many different roles in our organization. In recognition of his years of community service to the art of ballet in central Oklahoma, Mr. Mills was honored to receive the Governor’s Arts Award in 2018.
Our organization welcomed Jo Lynne Jones as the John Kirkpatrick Executive Director of Oklahoma City Ballet in February 2018. Jones takes the lead on fundraising, financial accountability, administrative management, and board engagement.
Oklahoma City Ballet is committed to serving our community through various outreach projects including BalletReach, ArtsReach, BalletKids Club, the Golden Swans senior dance program, Dance for Parkinson’s classes, and more! Learn more about our programs here and find out how you can get involved.
If you don’t see the answer to your question in our FAQs, please contact us!