The Trump Administration’s new restrictions on visa applications are forcing the cancellation of performances by a world-famous dance company in Santa Barbara and Malibu.
Les Ballets Africains was set to perform at Santa Barbara’s Granada Theater Friday night, as part of UC Santa Barbara’s Arts and Lectures Series. It’s a seven-decade-old national dance company from the nation of Guinea.
But the arts organization announced that the performance had been cancelled because the company couldn’t get visas to enter the country. Arts and Lectures officials say the company's visa applications were affected by an administrative hold. Two performances at Pepperdine, in Malibu, have also been cancelled.
E-mails are being sent to ticketholders with information on refunds, with no plans to reschedule the performances at this time.
On January 1, the U.S. suspended the issuance of visas to people from 19 countries, including Guinea, with only very limited exceptions. The suspension was the result of a Presidential order that asserts the action was to protect the security of the United States.
