Columbia City Ballet Presents The Nutcracker

Nutcracker Kicks Off CCB’s 60th Anniversary Season!

Columbia City Ballet is celebrating a milestone 60th Anniversary Performance Season, and this production of Nutcracker marks our return to the stage following the abrupt cancellation of the 2019-2020 Performance Season due to the onset of the pandemic. With eight snow-filled performances, including four matinees, Nutcracker is designed to accommodate the entire family’s holiday schedule. Nutcracker will be presented in eight performances, over two weekends, December 12-13 and December 19-20. Nutcracker, Columbia’s holiday family tradition, has the distinction of being Koger Center for the Arts’ first Nutcracker production and longest consecutively running annual arts event.

Not only are COVID-19 protocols such as socially distanced seating and sanitation procedures being practiced, but Starrett has set the classical ballet, Nutcracker, in the early years of the 20th century coinciding with the Spanish Flu Pandemic. Columbia City Ballet will be using costuming from our recent production of Great Gatsby to enhance Nutcracker’s 1920’s vibe, and our costume department has produced more than 250 masks to complement each costume. With silver sequins for the snow scene and vibrant pastels for “Waltz of the Flowers,” everyone has an appropriate mask that is both effective and attractive. The costume department has even developed a special process for laundering the masks between performances. Executive and Artistic Director, William Starrett says this season’s production of Nutcracker won’t only be a staging of a much-loved ballet, but in large part, an extended Public Service Announcement on the importance of masks, social distancing, hand-sanitizing, and all the other things we need to do collectively to stem the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, Starrett states that he feels it is very important to remind the public that we have, in fact, experienced a pandemic before, and that we survived it and continued to thrive as a nation.

Masks will be required for all audience members, and there will be strict adherence to other COVID-19 safety protocols.

Nutcracker Teas – Postponed

In the interest of safety for the Columbia community, CCB has decided to postpone Tea Parties until Cinderella.

Performances

Columbia – Koger Center for the Arts
1051 Greene Street I Columbia, SC 29201
Saturday, December 12th, 3pm and 7:30pm
Sunday, December 13th, 1pm and 5:30pm

Saturday, December 19th, 3pm and 7:30pm
Sunday, December 20th, 1pm and  5:30pm

Tickets – Purchase tickets online, call the Box Office at 803.251.2222 M-F 9am-5pm, or visit the Box Office in-person M-F 9am-5pm.

Seating – There are strict COVID-19 health and safety protocols in place to protect our patrons, dancers, staff, and volunteers. Seating will be socially-distanced. Every other row in the theater will be empty and seating is ONLY sold in pairs. There will be three empty seats between each pair of occupied seats.

To keep you safe, the Koger Center for the Arts has instituted the following rules:

• The lobby will only open 45 minutes before the event.
• To maintain social-distancing we have spread out the arrival of patrons. Please arrive:

• • 30 minutes prior to curtain for Grand Tier or Balcony seating.
  • 15 minutes prior to curtain for Orchestra level seating.

• • Patrons will be seated immediately upon entering the lobby.
• NOTE:  Tickets are grouped for 2 people only.
• Your ticket indicates your seat row and number and once inside the auditorium guests must stay in their assigned row and seat.
• Face coverings Must Be Worn inside the Koger Center at all times.
• No food or beverages allowed inside the Koger Center except bottled water.
• Please do not attend if in the 14 days prior to the event you have been diagnosed with COVID-19, have had close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. In all of these cases, tickets are fully refundable, right up until show time. Call 803.777.5112.

Sumter – Patriot Hall
135 Haynesworth Street I Sumter, SC 29150
Friday, November 20th, 7:30pm
Saturday, November 21st, 1pm and 7:30pm

Tickets – Purchase tickets online or by calling Miss Libby’s School of Dance at 803.469.8277. No tickets will be available at the door.

Walterboro – Postponed

Hartsville – The Center Theater
212 N. 5th Street I Hartsville, SC 29550
Thursday, December 17th – 7pm
Friday, December 18th – 7pm

Tickets – Purchase online.