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Tuesday’s performance of “The Nutcracker” at Popejoy Hall by the New Mexico Ballet Company was cancelled due to a bomb threat early that morning.
Emily Fine, executive director of the New Mexico Ballet Company, said her dancers were minutes away from warming up for their production of the Nutcracker in the building when they were evacuated.
“We actually heard the fire alarm,” she said. “It was probably around 8:25 or 8:20. As soon as we got out of the building, we were told that it was probably a false alarm, but we have to legally evacuate. And then we heard via a police officer that it was a bomb threat.”
UNM Police Department responded to a bomb threat after 8:02 a.m. that morning when UNMPD received an anonymous call warning of explosions the Popejoy, Ortega and Mitchell Halls. The threat turned out to be false, and normal campus operations resumed by 11 a.m.
The first show of “The Nutcracker” was supposed to begin at 10:15, and a second would have taken place at 12:15, Fine said. The show has been postponed to Friday at 10:15 a.m. at the same venue.
The Albuquerque Police Department’s bomb squad began inspection of the three buildings about an hour before the first performance was scheduled to commence. The squad cleared and reopened the areas by 10:15 a.m.
Fine said the dancers moved to the lobby of the UNM Bookstore for a warm-up when they realized the evacuation would take longer than 10 minutes. She said they were told the evacuation could last for more than an hour.
The performance was for APS children, who were to be bussed onto campus, Popejoy Hall employee Billy Tubbs said.
Tubbs said the company is planning to reschedule the performance for Friday. But he said it could be difficult to bring the APS children out again, because organizers will need new permission forms for attending students and new busses scheduled.
The busses contracted to bring children to today’s cancelled performance and to the re-scheduled performance on Friday will cost additional money, Tubbs said.
“It’s a huge loss,” he said.
The bomb threat also impacted students who were supposed to have class during the time of the incident.
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Katrim Tischner, a student from Germany who came to UNM on the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange program, said she was supposed to have the oral portion of her final exam for Intermediate Spanish at 9:30 a.m. She said changing the date of the exam could conflict with her schedule.
“My last exam is on Tuesday and I’m traveling on Wednesday,” she said. “So I hope it’s not next week or Wednesday.
