Atlanta Ballet cancels China tour.

ATLANTA--One week before the scheduled departure, after months of increasingly frustrating negotiations, Atlanta Ballet pulled the plug on a planned tour of China. The company was to have taken its opulent Nutcracker to Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, May 26 to June 13, along with mixed repertory to Shanghai. "They cancelled Beijing and Shanghai," said executive director Robert Chumblee, "and John [McFall, Atlanta's artistic director] and I were unwilling to take the company halfway around the world without performing either in the capital or the largest city."

At the invitation of the cultural ministry, Atlanta was to have represented the United States in the First International Dance Festival of China. "The Chinese, as well-intentioned as they are, might not be structured to handle projects of this magnitude," said Chumblee.

Give Atlanta credit for trying: When the company was unsuccessful in ascertaining such basic information as stage dimensions, they dispatched a staff member to measure the stages in all four cities. Meanwhile, the four semis worth of Nutcracker sets and costumes that were sent by boat in April docked in Hong Kong and have been sent back to Atlanta.