The San Francisco Ballet’s The Nutcracker will indeed premiere Friday night, as the ballet dancers’ union and the SF Ballet have struck an eleventh-hour labor deal to ensure the Sugar Plum Fairy will be dancing.

The day before Thanksgiving, we were all on our toes over the disconcerting news that the dancers of the SF Ballet might go on strike. That had the potential to cancel the opening night performance of The Nutcracker, plus however many more performances the strike lasted. At that point, it was only ten days before the curtain was scheduled to rise for the opening night show on Friday, December 6.

But just one day before the 2024 premiere, the union representing the dancers announced they’d struck a tentative labor deal with the SF Ballet, and The Nutcracker would indeed open on Friday night for their 7 pm show. That union is the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), who released a statement Thursday afternoon.

“AGMA is pleased to report that a Tentative Agreement (TA) with San Francisco Ballet was reached on December 5,” the union said in their announcement. “While the agreement is still pending, the Artists of SFB [SF Ballet] are excited to kick off their Nutcracker season, which draws close to 100,000 attendees each year, beginning December 6.”

That version of events has been confirmed by the SF Ballet, who put out their own Thursday afternoon announcement.

“We are thrilled to come to a respectful and equitable tentative agreement with the world-class dancers and stage managers of San Francisco Ballet,” SF Ballet executive director Branislav Henselmann said in that announcement. “The exemplary artists of SF Ballet, who continue to build upon the legacy and artistry of the nation’s oldest ballet company with a firm vision on the future of the art form, are the reason I joined the organization; I am delighted to say that we achieved this tentative agreement with mutual respect and dedication to reaching a consensus on dancers’ and stagehands’ advancement and institutional sustainability. We are excited to celebrate by launching our season with the annual San Francisco holiday tradition of Nutcracker, beloved by audiences and artists alike.”

This was a true eleventh-hour deal. The dancers’ contract ran until December 6, the opening day of the show, and its expiration would have canceled that opener. The new agreement is retroactive back to July 1 of this year, and apparently satisfies the union’s requests for better pay and safer conditions.

The agreement is still tentative, and is scheduled to be ratified by the dancers and the AGMA Board of Governors by December 16.

Regardless, the SF Ballet’s most popular performance of the year, The Nutcracker, opens Friday, December 6 and runs through Sunday, December 29 at the War Memorial Opera House. Tickets here.

Related: No ‘Nutcracker’ This Year? SF Ballet Labor Dispute Threatens Beloved Annual Show [SFist]

Image: SF Ballet