Traditionally, spring is the peak season of the New York dance calendar: The country’s two major ballet companies, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet, both settle in for two month seasons at Lincoln Center. Dance-goers are kept scurrying between the Metropolitan Opera House, where ABT opens on May 22, and the New York State Theater, where NYCB kicks off its season on April 25. But until their arrival, New York dance fans have many chances to sample dance of every ilk.

At the Joyce Theater, the bill changes frequently. This spring, one of its most interesting events will be the Joyce’s “1-2-3 Festival,” a two-week season shared by the ABT Studio Company, Ailey II, and Taylor 2. Due in part to the prohibitive costs of full seasons, “second companies” like these – chamber-size satellites of large ensembles – have enjoyed a revival in recent years. All three companies perform together at the festival’s opening night, April 25.

A MOMIX engagement has become an annual event at the Joyce. This year the troupe begins its three-week run on May 9, giving New Yorkers a bracing dose of its zany, sensual, and phantasmagoric sensibility.

From May 2 to 6, the Brooklyn Academy of Music will host William Forsythe’s evening-length theater piece “Kammer/Kammer.” In recent years, Mr. Forsythe has moved from what could be categorized as “pure” choreography to increasingly complex theater projects, in which verbal elements now play as prominent a role as kinetic ones. “Kammer/Kammer” is a dance-theater work that cross-weaves two parallel love stories, adapted from the writings of Douglas A. Martin and Anne Carson. “Kammer/Kammer” features a before-your-very-eyes shooting of a film that is projected on wide-screen monitors situated around the theater. In addition to staging the work, Mr. Forsythe has also designed the lighting and costumes. This will be the first American engagement of the Forsythe Company, the new company that the groundbreaking choreographer formed after leaving the Frankfurt Ballet two years ago.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s DanceAfrica festival, going strong for three decades, returns May 26 to 28. Performing live this year will be Peru Negro, the Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn, the New Jersey-based Universal African Dance & Drum Ensemble, and the BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble. There will also be inter-disciplinary programs of live music, an African Diaspora film series at BAM’s Rose Cinemas, master classes geared to different age groups, as well as other educational and community programs.

Star-studded galas can bring out the best or the worst in performers and audiences. The state of the gala will be tested anew on April 22 and 23, when ballet stars from around the world congregate at City Center for the Youth America Grand Prix 2006 Gala, in which established ballet dancers perform alongside the winners of this annual student competition.

Since American Ballet Theatre began annual fall seasons at City Center in 1997, it has concentrated its programming during its Met seasons on evening-length ballets. Whether you call them classics, warhorses, or repertory staples, you can see them again this year. ABT will perform the 19thcentury’s “Le Corsaire,” “Giselle,” and “Swan Lake,” as well as more recent demonstrations of the genre: Kenneth MacMillan’s 1965 “Romeo and Juliet” and his 1974 “Manon,” which returns to ABT’s repertory for the first time since 1996. The season will also see the company premiere of a new full-length “Cinderella,” choreographed by James Kudelka to the familiar score by Prokofiev. The production was originally premiered two years ago by the National Ballet of Canada.

There will also be a triple ball of ballets to Stravinsky scores, featuring the ABT premiere of John Cranko’s 1965 “Jeu de Cartes,” performed together with Balanchine’s “Apollo,” and Fokine’s “Petrouchka.”

Frederick Ashton’s full-length “Sylvia,” choreographed originally for London’s Royal Ballet in 1952, was a hit of last year’s ABT season. It returns this year for four performances. Delibes’s score is one of the greatest written for ballet, and Ashton has devised an Arcadian pastiche with a great deal of charm and style.

New York City Ballet’s season also features multiple performances of Balanchine’s full-length “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but true to form, its repertory is dominated by mixed bills. One-act ballets by Balanchine, Robbins, NYCB’s artistic director, Peter Martins, and the company’s resident choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon, will be mixed in with the fruits of this year’s Diamond Project. For the sixth time since 1992, the Diamond Project showcases new choreography made especially for the company by choreographers from around the globe. Contributing to this year’s festival are artistic director of Italy’s Arteballetto Mauro Bigonzetti, former NYCB dancer Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Finland’s Jorma Elo, who is resident choreographer at the Boston Ballet, veteran choreographer Eliot Feld, Bolshoi Ballet artistic director Alexei Ratmansky, and both Mr. Martins and Mr. Wheeldon.