Martha Graham Dance Company Won't Celebrate Centennial at Kennedy Center,The oldest dance troupe in the United States

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/arts/dance/martha-graham-dance-company-kennedy-center.html

Martha Graham Dance Company Won’t Celebrate Centennial at Kennedy Center
The oldest dance troupe in the United States decided not to perform at the Washington venue during its nationwide tour.



The Martha Graham Dance Company said on Friday that it would not perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this spring as part of the troupe’s centennial tour across the United States.

“The Martha Graham Dance Company regrets that we are unable to perform at the Kennedy Center in April,” it said in a statement. “We hope to perform at the center in the future.”

The company did not give a reason for the withdrawal. But several artists and groups have pulled out of Kennedy Center events since its board of trustees voted last month to add President Trump’s name to the building.

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Raven123]

1. I like their non statement statement. No explanation needed. Everyone knows the reason.

[erronis]

2. Exactly. If they don't implicitly understand the reasons, they are dumber than they act.

[Initech]

3. Good! May the Kennedy Center stay empty for now.

Fuck Trump!

[pfitz59]

4. Trump would likely walk into the dancer's dressing rooms

to 'inspect' them.

[betsuni]

5. Martha Graham:

"I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire.

"And there is grace. I mean the grace resulting in faith ... faith in life, in love, in people, in the act of dancing. All this is necessary to any performance in life which is magnetic, powerful, rich in meaning. ... In all of us who perform there is an awareness of the smile which is part of the equipment or gift of the acrobat. We have all walked the high wire of circumstance at times. We recognize the gravity pull of the earth as he does. The smile is there because he is practicing living at the instant of danger. He does not choose to fall."