San Francisco Ballet School Student Crystal Huang Shares Her Daily Routine
Seventeen-year-old Crystal Huang is no stranger to a packed schedule. She used to balance high-level ballet training with commercial-dance competitions, driving between Bayer Ballet Academy in Mountain View, California, and The Rock Center for Dance in Las Vegas, Nevada. After winning a prize at the Prix de Lausanne in 2024, she started studying ballet full-time at American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York City in 2025.
This year, Huang returned to her home state of California to join San Francisco Ballet School’s Level 8, in which she was also invited to perform with the trainees and in the company’s run of Don Quixote from March 19–29.
Here, she shares her daily routine.
6:45 am: Huang wakes in her dorm and drinks a glass of warm water before showering and putting her hair in a bun. To get it perfectly smooth, she uses a small detail brush and extra-strength hair spray.
8 am: For breakfast, she keeps a few favorites in rotation: two slices of avocado toast with an egg; sardines and toast; or a chocolate mug cake topped with cottage cheese and berry jam. Each is paired with steamed broccoli and a side of fruit. She also sips homemade hot chocolate. Before leaving for the studios, she uses her massage gun on any sore or tight areas of her body.
8:30 am: After a short walk to the SFB studios, Huang spends the hour before her first class warming up with a progressive stretching routine.
9:30 am: Technique class. Huang eats a piece of dark chocolate beforehand “for luck and joy.”
11:15 am: Class ends, and Huang has a 15-minute break. She snacks on a variety of fruit and bars.
11:30 am: Her second block of classes vary depending on the day and can include pointe, variations, character, pas de deux, or rehearsal for the Level 8 spring show.
1 pm: Lunch break. Huang packs a sweet potato and cheese, paired with chicken or steak bites, nuts, and more fruit. After eating and hydrating, Huang might work on homework or take a power nap in the locker room. “I have a memory-foam travel pillow in my locker, and I’ll take a squishy yoga mat and put my jacket on backwards so the hood covers my face.”
1:45 pm: After lunch she might have modern class or choreography rehearsal. “Before Nutcracker last semester, we rehearsed snow and flowers so that by the time the company started rehearsing it, we would already know our spots. I think one of the best things about SFB School is getting to work with the company.”
3 pm: Huang’s last class of the day is either PBT (Progressing Ballet Technique), music, contemporary, or conditioning. “We recently learned about how the orchestra is constructed, and at certain points during Don Q I could look into the orchestra and think, That’s what we learned about,” she says.
4:30 pm: Huang holds extra rehearsals for her choreography project, a nine-minute group piece. “I’ve actually been lucky enough to be performing with the trainees this past month, so I haven’t been able to be in many of the choreo rehearsals,” she says. “So a lot of rehearsing had to be done outside of class time. Even if it was in the hallways, all of my classmates in my piece were so dedicated, and it turned out really good and was really fun.” After her day of classes, Huang might have a PT appointment, and she and her classmates use the rehab resources in the physical therapy room, like cryo-compression boots. “If I have to wait in line, I’ll do my PT exercises for my Achilles.”
6 pm: Huang walks back to the dorms. For dinner, she eats from the dorm cafeteria. “While I eat, I like to listen to jazz. I like the vibes.”
7 pm: Huang works on homework. She puts her laptop on her bed and rolls her feet with a small ball while studying. “I really do love school and enjoy learning,” she says. Her favorite subject is math, and she is currently taking AP calculus.
8 pm: She has another snack, prioritizing protein for muscle recovery, and also eats a kiwifruit. “Kiwi has a lot of the same benefits as melatonin,” she says. “I notice when I eat a kiwi, I sleep better.” Most of Huang’s snacks are dorm-friendly things she can whip up with a microwave or air fryer. One of her creations is an apple, cut in half and sprinkled with cinnamon, that she air-fries and eats with cottage cheese and honey.
8:45 pm: Before bed, Huang does footbaths, alternating between ice water and hot water. “Every night I say 20 things that I’m grateful for. Your words are super-powerful, and your body listens, too,” she says. If she has an upcoming show, she will also visualize, step by step, her performance day going as well as possible.
9:45 pm: After some light stretching and meditation, Huang goes to bed.
Performance Day
Huang’s daily routine changed when she was cast in Don Quixote as a bridesmaid and a few other background roles. “I was in the PT room, doing my exercises, when someone came up to me and said, ‘Are you ready for Don Q rehearsals?’ ” Huang remembers. “And I said ‘Huh?’ And she showed me my name on the board. The whole thing has been so amazing, and I’m so grateful.”
Leading up to the run of shows, she took morning class with the Level 8s, rehearsed for a performance with the trainees before lunch, and joined the main company from 1– 4:15 pm, and again from 6–9 pm.
“Dancing with the company was the highlight of my year,” Huang says. “I got to watch one of my favorite principals, Maddie Woo, do her iconic jumps as Kitri. I was in the back, holding my fruit basket.”
On the day of her bridesmaid debut, Huang woke at 8:30 am, got ready and ate breakfast, and walked to SFB at 10:15 to warm up before 11:30 class. Afterwards, Huang ran bridesmaids by herself before putting on her makeup, signing the call sheet by 1:30 and getting into costume.
Once the matinee was finished, Huang met up with her parents, who had come to watch. After a dinner of pizza and ice cream, Huang returned to the theater by 7:30 pm for her second show. Since she didn’t have bridesmaids, she performed in the first two acts and watched the third from the standing-room section of the audience.
She returned to the dorms by 10:45 pm and did her nightly routine before bed.
Day Off
Huang’s schedule has been busy recently, but on her days off she likes to spend time with her parents, who live less than an hour away. They often get together over meals, like all-you-can-eat hot pot. “We always get dessert,” she says. Otherwise, Huang prioritizes rest. She likes to bake and make origami objects, and, like every high school student, she has to catch up on homework.
