New York, December 29 (BUS): The New York City Ballet Company announced, on Tuesday, the cancellation of the remaining performances of the ballet “The Nutcracker” due to positive tests for the Corona virus.
The iconic George Balanchine Ballet, a staple of New York’s winter performing arts season, was scheduled to perform through Sunday at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.
“While the New York City Ballet has been hoping to resume performances this evening, we have made the determination that continuing to perform at this time would not be in the best interest of the New York City community, whose health and safety is our number one priority,” NYCB Executive Director Kathy Brown and Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford said. In a statement.
“We are extremely proud of everyone who came together safely to present 30 beautiful performances of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker in recent weeks, and we are very grateful to the thousands of people who attended.”
Vaccine restrictions have limited members of the public to old enough to be vaccinated or to younger children with a negative PCR test, the AP reports.
Ticket holders for canceled shows will be able to receive a full refund or make a tax-deductible charitable donation to the ballet for the value of their tickets.
The ballet troupe has performed “The Nutcracker” every year except for one since its first performance in 1954. Last year’s shows were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.