By Amanda Woods
Excerpt:
Climate activists disrupted a ballet performance at Lincoln Center on Earth Day — prompting well-heeled attendees to shout at them to “Shut the f—k up” and get out of the theater, video shows.
One of the eco-protesters made her way inside the David H. Koch Theater Tuesday evening, during the the launch of the acclaimed ballet’s spring season.
“It is Earth Day and we are in climate emergency!” she bellowed, just as the third of four George Balanchine ballets on the program, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, was beginning.
“Our country has become a Fascist regime and we are enjoying this beauty.”
The curtain then came down and an announcement aired: “Due to an issue in the house, we need to pause the performance. We are attempting to resolve this issue.”
Front of house staff escorted the protester out of the theater, as cheers and jeers erupted in the audience.
About five more minutes passed before the ballet restarted from the beginning and the performance continued without further interruption, the New York City Ballet said.
Earlier, as attendees filed into the theater, two demonstrators with the Extinction Rebellion activist group stood outside, holding signs with the messages, “No Billionaire Ballet on Earth Day” and “4°C 1 Billion Dead.”
“How will you dance when you’re dying of dehydration?” one of the demonstrators yelled as security workers tried to pry the sign from his hands, according to video posted on X.
“How will you dance when you can’t even afford decent groceries? How will you dance when they’re scheming people out of their homes?”
