There she was seen by Ross Stretton who offered her the opportunity to audition for American Ballet Theatre in New York.

[11] The following year, she made her ABT debut as Giselle's titular role, replacing an injured Polina Semionova, on the company's alumni night.

I really put all of my soul into that one.”[7] Alastair Macaulay, dance critic for The New York Times, remarked that, "the audience greeted her with the warmth usually reserved for the most revered ballerinas.

"[13] She was promoted to principal dancer in August 2015, after 14 years as a soloist, making her the first Filipina-American to reach the rank in ABT's history.

[10] Fellow Principal dancer Daniil Simkin captured the moment and shared the news on social media in June 2015.

[7] In 2016, she danced leading roles in Alexei Ratmansky's reconstruction of The Sleeping Beauty, Lise in Frederick Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardée; the Queen of Shemakhan in Ratmansky's The Golden Cockerel; Maiden in The Firebird; and a role she created in his Symphony#9.

[12] A month later, it was announced that she would join Kaatsbaan, a dance cultural park in Tivoli, New York, as its new artistic director, effective January 1, 2020.

[19] Her last performance with the company was Giselle in February at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC, with James Whiteside as Albrecht.

[20] In June 2022, ABT announced that Abrera will become the acting artistic director of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School.