Kennedy Center Dance Program Faces Radical Shake-up

The recent times have been witnessing significant changes in the Kennedy Center, which until January 19 held the reputation as the foremost arts venue in the nation. This transformation began with the induction of Donald Trump and Ric Grenell, a prominent supporter of his. Recently, the spotlight has been entirely on the dance programming sector. Revelations of last week detailed how the entire staff of the dance department was terminated by Grenell, inclusive of a highly skilled and long-serving administrator.

Succeeding this drastic staff overhaul, the department was handed over to a self-proclaimed ‘MAGA ex-dancer’. His appointment was triggered by a letter he wrote to Grenell, expressing criticism over the supposed wokism and ‘extreme leftist philosophies’ prevailing in the sphere of ballet. As the dance programming department’s new leader, Stephen Nakagawa’s credentials, while compared to the standard requisites for the position, appear rather slender.

To add some context, NPR highlighted Nakagawa’s lack of any prior experience in arts administration or curating. His expertise seems to stretch only as far as his brief stint as part of the Washington Ballet company. Contrarily, Jane Raleigh, the woman who Nakagawa replaced, boasts an impressive tenure as an arts administrator, having served the Center for more than a decade.

This leadership transition occurs amidst a staggering fall in ticket sales for Kennedy Center dance performances. The upcoming season has seen a drop of approximately 50% in the subscription revenue. The prestigious Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which for years had graced the Kennedy Center’s stages, has made the decision not to perform this season and has shifted its annual DC show to an alternate venue.

There are still other ballet companies listed to perform in the Kennedy Center’s multiple dance spaces. However, with ticket sales spiraling downwards, the bleak reality is that the Stuttgart Ballet is slated to perform early next month to an audience projected to fill just 4 to 19 percent of the Opera House. The situation is not much better for BodyTraffic, the LA-based troupe scheduled for the smaller Eisenhower Theatre at the end of October, which is currently tracking at 12 percent capacity.

The present scenario might raise alarms for the director of the Kennedy Center. It raises the critical question as to why ballet enthusiasts in Washington are staying notably distant. Grenell, dwelling on this question, came up with an explanation.

Grenell attributes the dire state of ticket sales to the elitist nature of programming. He argues that numerous Americans are ballet lovers and therefore, should be accorded the chance to witness it. To this end, Grenell is also encouraging the Center to explore possible collaborations with organizations like the Museum of the Bible and the Christian Broadcasting Network.

What these prospective collaborations might churn out is unclear at this point. Possibilities could range from a ballet narrative debunking dinosaur existence to a contemporary dance tribute to the life and work of Pat Robertson.