Global Courant
Wisconsin health officials have dropped a fine for a dance studio that staged a performance of “The Nutcracker” in December 2020 despite COVID-19 restrictions on mass gatherings.
Public Health Madison and Dane County canceled the pending sentence for A Leap Above Dance on June 22, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Thursday. The studio is located in Oregon, a suburb of Madison.
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The health department claimed 119 people attended the performance, even though the department had banned mass gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Wisconsin health officials have dropped fines against a Dane County dance studio that allegedly violated the state’s COVID-19 protocols by hosting a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” ballet in late 2020.
The exact amount of the fine is not clear. With each of the 119 counts in the department’s complaint punishable by $200, it could have risen to $23,800. But Morgan Finke, a spokesman for the health department, told the State Journal on Wednesday that the maximum would have been $3,200.
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Studio owner Natalie Nemeckay said fewer than 100 people were involved in the performance and they were divided into groups of no more than 10. Photos show performers also wearing masks.
The studio joined a lawsuit in February 2021 in which two parents alleged that the health department’s order to limit mass gatherings hindered their children’s ability to participate in indoor sports. The department’s collection restrictions ended a few months later in June 2021.
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The state Supreme Court upheld the health department’s ability to limit gatherings in July 2022 and returned the case to Dane County Circuit Court. Finke said the court only received the case last month after the department’s restrictions expired and the national COVID-19 emergency ended. She said it was not in the public interest to continue the fine.
