The Kennedy Center Is In Chaos. Every Dancer Needs to Be Paying Attention

If you’ve been anywhere near the dance world this week, you’ve already heard the news: New York City Ballet has pulled out of their season at the Kennedy Center. And I just need to talk about it — because this is so much bigger than one company canceling a show. This is about what happens when politics walks into the dance studio, and what it means for all of us.

What Is the Kennedy Center — And Why Does It Matter?

Before we can talk about what’s actually happening right now, we need to understand what the Kennedy Center truly is. Because I don’t think a lot of people — even dancers, artists, and performers — fully appreciate the weight of this institution.

The Kennedy Center is not just a fancy venue in Washington, D.C. It is the national cultural center of the United States. It was first proposed in 1958, when President Eisenhower signed legislation creating what was then called the National Cultural Center — the first time in American history that the federal government helped fund a space dedicated entirely to the performing arts.

President John F. Kennedy was a major supporter of the arts and believed something that I think is essential to this entire conversation. He said that the encouragement of art is political in the most profound sense — not as a weapon in the struggle, but as an instrument of understanding. He understood that art and politics have always been intertwined. Always.

After Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Congress renamed the center in his memory. It officially became the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — a living memorial to a president who believed the arts were essential to what it means to be American. The Kennedy Center opened its doors on September 8, 1971, with the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, and it has been the home stage to some of the world’s greatest dancers, musicians, and performers ever since.

Its mission? To invite art into the lives of all Americans and ensure it represents the cultural diversity of this country. That is not my opinion — it is literally written into its mandate.

Here’s Where Things Start to Go Left

In early 2025, President Trump overhauled the Kennedy Center’s board, firing all 18 Democratic appointees and declaring himself chairman. No sitting president had ever done that — ever. He told reporters he was taking over because the shows were “terrible and a disgrace” — and then admitted he had never actually seen a show.

He then appointed Richard Grenell, a longtime Trump loyalist, as the center’s new president. In December 2025, the board voted to rename the institution. It is now called the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. That name is still being challenged in court as we speak.

The new leadership fired the Kennedy Center’s director of dance and programming and replaced them with someone who had written a letter to Grenell saying he supported the Trump administration and was concerned about — and I need you to really hear this — radical leftist ideologies in ballet.

Radical. Leftist. Ideologies. In ballet.

I am a Black dance educator. I have spent my entire career watching ballet fight to make space for people who look like me. And now the person in charge of booking dance at the nation’s most prestigious arts institution thinks that diversity in ballet is a radical ideology. I’ll let you sit with that one.

This is part of a much larger pattern of political interference in arts institutions that I wrote about back when the takeover first began — you can read that full breakdown here: Donald Trump’s Takeover of the Kennedy Center Sparks Backlash from Artists.

Who Left — And Who Stayed

When all of this started unfolding, the dance world had to make a choice. And different companies made very different decisions.

Let’s talk about who left first.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — gone. One of the most iconic Black dance institutions in America said no. Ailey has always stood as a cultural beacon, a company built on the belief that Black stories belong on the world’s greatest stages. Them walking away from the Kennedy Center is not a small thing. That is a statement.

Martha Graham Dance Company — also out. One of the most historically significant modern dance companies in the world, built on the belief that movement is protest and the body tells truth. Martha Graham herself was radical. Her legacy walked out that door.

San Francisco Ballet — pulled out of their five-day engagement scheduled for late May. Their board of trustees voted to cancel seven performances of their contemporary ballet Mere Mortals, a work they had been touring and building excitement around. They simply said they look forward to performing for D.C. audiences in the future. That is diplomatic language for: not like this.

New York City Ballet — just this week, announced they will not perform their scheduled six-day engagement during the week of June 1st. They sent an email to their dancers. No public statement, no explanation given. But the message was clear.

Now, who stayed? American Ballet Theater performed there earlier this month, and Cincinnati Ballet has also continued to perform.

And I want to be clear — I am not here to throw those companies under the bus or make simple judgments. These are real organizations with real contracts, real dancers whose livelihoods depend on those performances, and real audiences who bought tickets. These are complicated, layered decisions. But I do think the contrast is worth examining. Because the companies that left — Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, San Francisco Ballet, and now New York City Ballet — are companies with strong institutional identities built around artistic integrity, diversity, and freedom of expression. And that is not a coincidence.

What This Means for Every Dancer

Here is where I want to speak to you directly — whether you are a student, a professional, a teacher, or just someone who loves dance.

The Kennedy Center is not just a building. It represents access. It represents the idea that the arts belong to everyone — that a little Black girl in Atlanta, a first-generation kid in Texas, or a boy in rural Appalachia can grow up and perform on the most prestigious stage in the country. That the government of this nation believes your art matters enough to maintain a space for it.

When that institution is politically compromised — when the person deciding what dance gets programmed there thinks diversity is a radical ideology — the message sent to marginalized dancers is devastating. We have been fighting for decades for Black dancers, Latino dancers, Asian dancers, and disabled dancers to be seen and celebrated on stages like this. And the programs specifically designed to lift up underrepresented artists are now in serious jeopardy.

Think about what it means for young dancers who were supposed to see themselves on that stage this season. That representation matters. I have written before about the things I want young dancers — especially young girls — to understand about this industry, and access to spaces like the Kennedy Center is central to that conversation: What I Want Young Girls in My Dance Classes to Know.

There is also a real economic cost to all of this. When major companies pull out of a season, that is lost income for dancers. Lost exposure. Lost career-defining moments that cannot simply be rescheduled. Ballet dancers especially have notoriously short performance careers. A canceled engagement at the Kennedy Center is not a minor inconvenience — it can be a loss that echoes for years.

But Should Art Stay Out of Politics?

I already know somebody is typing this in the comments right now: Why can’t art just stay out of politics?

I want to address that directly and clearly.

Art has never been separate from politics. Not once. Not in the history of human civilization.

Dance especially. Think about what dance has always been. It has been resistance. The Ring Shout — enslaved African Americans using circular movement as a form of spiritual resistance when they were forbidden from practicing their own faith. The Harlem Renaissance, where Black artists used movement to declare their humanity in the face of Jim Crow. If you want to go deeper on that history, I did a full breakdown on how the Great Depression and the Harlem Renaissance intersected and what it meant for the dance world: How the Great Depression and the Harlem Renaissance Happened at the Same Time — And What It Meant for Dance.

And then there is Alvin Ailey’s Revelations — a work about the pain and resilience of the Black experience in America. That is political. That is deeply, intentionally, and beautifully political.

So when Richard Grenell says that companies boycotting are showing “derangement syndrome” — when he says professional artists should perform for everyone — he is missing the entire point. These artists are performing for everyone. They are performing the act of saying: we will not lend our art to legitimize something that goes against the very values our art was built on. That is not derangement. That is integrity.

As a Black dance educator, I will say this plainly: there has never been a moment in history where Black artists could afford to pretend that art and politics were separate. Our very existence on those stages was a political act. The fight to get there was political. And protecting that access now — in this moment — is political too.

Where I Land on All of This

The Kennedy Center was built to be a living memorial to a president who believed art could change the world. Who believed that genius speaks across all boundaries. Who believed a nation’s cultural life was just as important as its political one.

Right now, that institution is in chaos. And whether you are a professional dancer, a dance teacher, or a student taking your very first jazz class — this affects you. Because when the spaces that are supposed to protect and celebrate dance are compromised, the most vulnerable dancers feel it first.

We need to watch what happens next. Pay attention. Stay informed. And whatever you do, don’t let anyone tell you that your art doesn’t have something to say to the world.

Because it always has. And it always will.

What are your thoughts on the Kennedy Center situation? Drop them in the comments — I want to hear from the dance community on this one. And if this resonated with you, share it with a dancer or educator in your life.

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