Student Matinees
Performances designed for K-12 school groups
San Francisco Ballet Student Matinees introduce K-12 students to the joy and wonder of ballet through engaging one-act performances that captivate students’ imaginations with dazzling choreography, memorable music, striking costumes, and spectacular sets.
About student matinees
Introduce your students to the excitement of live dance and music by joining San Francisco Ballet for our Student Matinee performances. These ballet performances captivate students’ imaginations with dazzling choreography, memorable music, spectacular sets and costumes, and are a wonderful way to expose students to the transformative power of the performing arts.
Each 70-minute interactive program includes:
- An introduction to ballet as an art form
- Excerpts from some of the Company’s most extraordinary works performed by SF Ballet professional dancers and SF Ballet School students, accompanied by the SF Ballet Orchestra
- A comprehensive digital Educator’s Guide with standards-based resources and context to help your students explore the story, characters, and art form.
- Insights into the career of a professional dancer with SF Ballet
Bring your school group
2025–2026 SCHOOL YEAR STUDENT MATINEE PERFORMANCES
WHEN:
- NUTCRACKER: Tuesday, December 9, 2025 – 11:30 am–12:40 pm
- DON QUIXOTE: Tuesday, March 24, 2026 – 11:30 am–12:40 pm
WHERE: War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. Schools are responsible for arranging their own transportation to and from the Opera House.
WHO: K-12 school groups only. Priority given to Bay Area public and Title I schools.**
Price
Tickets are $15 each for K-12 school groups; minimum order requirement of 25 tickets (inclusive of students and adult chaperones). A limited number of fully subsidized ticket scholarships may also be available to Title I schools. Seating assignment for Student Matinee performances will be determined by San Francisco Ballet, based on availability.
How to request tickets
To request tickets to SF Ballet’s Nutcracker Student Matinee performance, please fill out the ticket request form linked below. Ticket requests for Don Quixote will open in January 2026.
Once your ticket request is approved, SF Ballet’s Ticketing department will contact you to process payment. Due to the limited availability of tickets, submitting a ticket request does not guarantee that your school will receive tickets. Priority goes to Bay Area public schools and Title I schools. Homeschool groups, private and parochial schools may want to contact Ticket Services at groups@sfballet.org or 415-865-2000 to inquire about discounted group ticket rates to attend a 2pm school-day, full two-hour performance.
SF Ballet aims to accommodate every individual in your group. Please let us know ahead of time if you have any students who require special accommodation, such as ASL interpretation, assisted listening devices, or wheelchair accessible seating using the request form above or email education@sfballet.org.
About the nutcracker performance
CHOREOGRAPHER: Helgi Tomasson
COMPOSER: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Experience the magical winter wonderland of toy soldiers, King of the Mice, Sugar Plum Fairy, and so much more. This dazzling production is a kaleidoscope of over 150 dancers accompanied by the SF Ballet Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s beloved score.
GETTING THERE
The performance takes place at the historic SF War Memorial Opera House at 301 Van Ness Avenue. Public transportation via Muni and BART is convenient, and parking is available nearby. All school groups are responsible for their own transportation.
Questions?
Contact us at education@sfballet.org or Ticket Services at 415-865-2000.
Discover More
SF Ballet School
San Francisco Ballet School offers a challenging curriculum, taught by faculty members drawn from the ranks of San Francisco Ballet and companies around the world.