Announcement About The Nutcracker

In our ongoing effort to ensure the safety of patrons, dancers, and staff, Eugene Ballet is canceling in-person performances of The Nutcracker. After making several changes to include more socially distant choreography and a shorter performance, the rise in COVID-19 cases and new government mandates has made it impossible to move forward with this year’s performances of The Nutcracker.

Eugene Ballet will use a portion of its Oregon Cultural Trust COVID-19 funding support to pay dancers for the work they had been prepared to do in December.

To keep this beloved holiday tradition available to Eugene Ballet families and patrons, the artistic team is editing a past performance of The Nutcracker and creating a brand new streaming experience with behind the scenes interviews. Tickets are available for $30 at experienceballet.org.

If you purchased an in-person ticket to The Nutcracker, there are three options for next steps:

To discuss these options, contact the Hult Center for the Performing Arts at 541- 682-5000.

This disheartening turn of events led Artistic Director Toni Pimble to recall that “in the 40 years that Eugene Ballet has been performing The Nutcracker, we have only canceled one or two performances because of extreme situations.”

“In Newport, Oregon, hurricane force winds downed all the power lines taking out the electricity, and in Wyoming, we spent three days in a Best Western because all the freeways were closed due to dangerous driving conditions,” Pimble continued. “Nevertheless, we persevered, held class and rehearsals in a conference room and entertained ourselves with swimming races in the indoor pool to stay in shape. We even circled back around to one of the towns that we had missed and performed The Nutcracker for an enthusiastic and supportive audience.”

While we had all wanted to bring you a new performance of The Nutcracker in this challenging year, the safety of our dancers and you, our patrons, remains our number one priority. We sincerely thank you for your support and understanding as we continue to find a path forward.