‘Painful but necessary’: Kansas City Ballet cancels rest of season as COVID rages on
The Kansas City Ballet has joined most other area performing arts companies in canceling events through at least the first half of this year because of the pandemic.
The ballet announced Sunday the cancellation of the remaining three events of its 2020-21 season: “New Moves,” Feb. 4-7 at Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, and “Cinderella” (March 12-21) and “Jewels” (May 7-16), both at the Kauffman Center the Performing Arts’ Muriel Kauffman Theatre.
“This was a painful but necessary decision in light of the pandemic,” artistic director Devon Carney said. “The health and safety of our dancers, staff and our volunteers as well as our audience is our top priority. I will be working diligently to reschedule these important works as soon as it is possible.”
A news release said ticketholders will be contacted soon or can call the box office at 816-931-8993.
The ballet, which has not announced its next season, previously canceled its final two 2019-20 shows last spring, “New Moves” and “Celts,” as well as its first two shows of the current season — “Dracula” and “The Nutcracker” — and a small-scale replacement called “The Holiday Show.”
In July, the ballet, the Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera and the Harriman-Jewell Series announced they had canceled all performances at the Kauffman Center through 2020.
The symphony has said it will return beginning Jan. 17 with a slate of concerts before limited in-person audiences and for streaming, but it has not released a full 2021 schedule.
The Lyric Opera and Harriman-Jewell Series have since postponed the rest of their 2020-21 shows. The opera, which lost “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” (Feb. 27-March 27) and “Carmen” (April 24-May 2), hasn’t announced shows for 2021-22. The Harriman-Jewell Series essentially postponed its season until 2021-22, with the first concert slated for Sept. 9.
Also, the Friends of Chamber Music, which presents events at the Kauffman Center and the Folly Theater, won’t have any concerts until December, having rescheduled its entire 2020-21 season.
Finally, the Folly Theater has postponed its Folly Jazz Series, which was slated to resume Jan. 16 with Jeff Lorber, until 2021-22. The John Pizzarelli Trio is scheduled to kick it off Sept. 17.
This story was originally published January 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "‘Painful but necessary’: Kansas City Ballet cancels rest of season as COVID rages on."
