The Korea National Ballet canceled its “The Nutcracker” show slated for the Christmas holidays, following the recent resurgence of COVID-19 infection cases here.

The national ballet troupe announced Friday that the iconic performance of “The Nutcracker” in December would have to be fully canceled due to the rapid spread of COVID-19.

The ballet troupe was to hold the performances at the Seoul Arts Center from Dec. 19-30, leaving two-thirds of seats empty under the government’s Level 2.5 social distancing scheme. Its performances scheduled for Daegu on Dec. 14-15 have also been canceled.

“We deemed it to be dangerous for the KNB troupe based in Seoul to visit Daegu while COVID-19 is widely spreading across the Greater Seoul area and cluster infection cases continue,” the announcement read.

The KNB has been presenting “The Nutcracker,” choreographed by Russian dancer Yuri Grigorovich, in year-end performances since 2000. It is the first time since a fire at the Seoul Arts Center in 2007 that the ballet troupe has had to cancel its performances.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)