Credit: AI
Google is teaming up with the San Francisco Ballet to bring one of the world’s most beloved holiday performances into virtual reality. The new project, titled Nutcracker: The Immersive Experience, is scheduled to launch on December 4, offering audiences a new way to experience the classic ballet without visiting a theater.
The collaboration also involves immersive technology company YB and smart glasses manufacturer XREAL. The experience will be available through Google’s Android XR platform and XREAL AURA devices using YB’s CultVRe app.
Unlike a traditional ballet recording, the VR production is designed to bring viewers closer to the action, creating an immersive perspective that places audiences inside the performance. It features the first act of choreographer Helgi Tomasson’s production, filmed at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House in April 2026.
The experience also includes recorded performances by the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and the San Francisco Girls Chorus, combining immersive visuals with the original musical atmosphere of the production.
Making Classical Ballet More Accessible
The project reflects a growing interest in using virtual reality and spatial computing to make cultural experiences more accessible. By bringing a major ballet production to supported XR devices, Google and its partners are exploring how emerging technologies can connect traditional performing arts with audiences around the world.
According to the announcement, the experience will be free to download on supported Android XR devices and will remain available throughout the San Francisco Ballet’s holiday performance season.
The live production of The Nutcracker will also return to the War Memorial Opera House from December 4 through December 27, 2026.
With this collaboration, Google is taking another step toward expanding the role of immersive technology beyond gaming and entertainment, bringing classical performing arts into the evolving world of virtual and mixed reality.
