Post-Trump purge, can the Kennedy Center save itself? How Mark Morris showed the way

Washington, D.C. — Like overmuch other successful the nation’s capital, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is successful a authorities of uncertainty. For 53 years, this monolithic show analyzable has served — with bipartisan grace and, astatine its best, conspicuous American flair — to grant a azygous U.S. president. But successful February the halfway was appropriated by different president who present besides rules arsenic president of a committee of trustees, each of whom are his appointees.

The takeover resulted successful the firing of the center’s long-serving president, Deborah Rutter, 1 of the country’s astir awesome arts leaders. Over the past decade, she expanded an already immense institution’s offerings. The center’s caller impermanent president, Richard Grenell, a erstwhile ambassador to Germany, lacks arts absorption experience.

In the meantime, the caller administrators pass that the Kennedy Center is impoverished, that the installation has go shoddy and that immoderate of its programming sick serves the American ideal. Diversity and resistance are out, which has led to the disinviting of, among others, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., from performing connected the premises. Celebrating Christmas, promises Grenell, is precise overmuch in, arsenic volition beryllium striving for profit-making programming. One proposition is commercializing the halfway to instrumentality vantage of its existent property worth and premier determination connected the Potomac.

On a caller day I wandered the Kennedy Center’s expansive hallways starring to an opera location (home of Washington National Opera), performance hallway (home to the National Symphony) and the Eisenhower Theater (suited for play and dance), each overseen by a super-sized bust of JFK. I visited the galleries and shops and restaurants, the Millennium Stage (where a escaped enclosure euphony show was taking place) and checked retired a caller addition, the Reach, a $250-million analyzable of flexible venues, an concern the caller medication bemoans.

It was a beauteous outpouring day, and the Kennedy Center appeared to beryllium well-tended but unusually quiet. Other than a tiny assemblage listening to members of the National Symphony execute enclosure music, I felt similar I had the gathering practically to myself. A clerk successful 1 of the acquisition shops was thrilled to yet person a customer. I was the lone 1 successful the galleries. Exhibits inactive reflected diversity. Rainbow emblem Kennedy Center T-shirts remained for sale.

There person been cancellations successful protestation of the takeover — notably Rhiannon Giddens, the Broadway accumulation of “Hamilton” and what was to person been the Washington premiere of Gregory Spears’ moving opera “Fellow Travelers,” based connected the Lavender Scare, the 1950s national persecution of cheery men and lesbians successful government. But Mark Morris’ perchance arguable caller ballet, “Moon,” was having its satellite premiere that evening arsenic planned.

Morris whitethorn beryllium America’s starring choreographer, but helium besides tin beryllium a fanciful atrocious lad of dance. Tell him helium can’t bash thing and, I’ve been told, look out. It would beryllium hard to ideate the existent Kennedy Center welcoming Morris’ mode of dispensing Christmas cheer. His superb yuletime hit, “The Hard Nut,” based connected Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,” has been delighting audiences of each ages for 3 decades, but it does hap to see a comedic maid successful drag.

When the Kennedy Center past autumn commissioned Morris to marque an evening-length centerpiece for its immense “Earth to Space: Arts Breaking the Sky” festival, thing much was intended than to grant JFK’s inaugural that led, successful 1969, to Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin being the archetypal Earthlings to locomotion connected the moon. The festival is an exuberant illustration of the sweeping events that Rutter created. It includes concerts, opera, dance, film, talks, installations, exhibits, interstellar philharmonic journeys of 1 oddball benignant oregon another, appearances by astronauts and space-specialist celebrities, not to notation regular screenings of a caller film, “The Moonwalkers,” featuring Tom Hanks.

All of this takes connected caller meaning, particularly if we callback JFK’s 1962 code astatine Rice University successful Houston. In it helium defended the enormity of the Apollo 11 mission’s disbursal by noting, “There is nary strife, nary prejudice, nary nationalist struggle successful outer abstraction arsenic yet,” and warned that “its accidental for peaceful practice whitethorn ne'er travel again.”

NASA is preparing for a satellite landing again successful 2027. The temptation, this time, goes beyond technological curiosity to colonization, mining uncommon elements and utilizing the satellite arsenic a waystation to Mars. The 2 astir zealous abstraction buffs connected Earth loom ample successful Washington, with Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk successful a satellite contention with their respective rocket enterprises, Blue Origin and Space X.

Enter Mark Morris. He had been cagey each on astir what helium had successful mind, different than to see the satellite landing and the Golden Record, the disc that astronomer and media property Carl Sagan made for Voyager 1 and 2. Launched successful 1977, these 2 NASA spacecraft were the archetypal intended to permission our star system. The signaling includes sounds, voices and euphony of the Earth’s peoples, successful hopes that it conscionable mightiness scope intelligent beingness determination retired there.

Members of the Mark Morris Dance Group execute the satellite premiere of “Moon” connected April 4, 2025, astatine the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater successful Washington, D.C.

(ximena brunette / xmbphotography)

“Moon,” which is simply a bid of abbreviated dances that lasts conscionable nether an hour, begins with an animated show of five-pointed stars successful a semicircle connected a surface that served arsenic the backdrop for the Eisenhower stage. The stars slyly go the circumference of the U.S. statesmanlike seal. But alternatively than starring to outrage, an representation of JFK appeared beneath the seal, and past 1 of the moon. The assemblage laughed and past warmly applauded.

Morris’ silvery satellite was a spot of enigma and wonder. Musical choices were agreeably eccentric. Beyond the Golden Record’s greetings successful galore languages to aliens, Morris turned to gloriously schmaltzy swing, bluegrass and state recordings from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. These included Al Bowlly’s “Roll Along, Prairie Moon,” Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” Bonnie Guitar’s “Dark Moon” and Hildegarde’s “Honey-Coloured Moon.” Pianist and organist Colin Fowler, joined by bassist Jordan Frazier, added their contributions from the pit. A fewer of György Ligeti’s startlingly unusual solo soft numbers from “Musica Ricercata” showed up. Dancers rolled by connected wheeled stools similar small abstraction radical to immoderate of Marcel Dupré’s eerie “24 Organ Inventions.”

With gorgeously impressionist lighting (by Mike Faba), intriguing outer abstraction projections (by Wendall K. Harrington), elegant costumes (by Isaac Mizrahi) and small artifact spacemen scattered about, the Morris “Moon” became a luxuriant dreamlike flight from Washingtonian reality. Most important of all, his institution had ne'er been better, and the dancers themselves provided the existent fantasy. Otherworldly question someway matched the antithetic euphony successful ways that look rational but not needing to marque sense. Movement, itself, was adventure, astir each crook an imaginative caller surprise.

To locomotion into a recently uncertain Kennedy Center tin consciousness fraught. But successful his programme note, Morris asks america to “observe and bask Moon and Space, without knowing a thing.” The genius of “Moon,” however, is to punctual america that wonderment tin beryllium astir the slightest expected corners.

Can “Moon” punctual NASA to spell to the satellite to wonder, not to plunder? Probably not. But it tin punctual artists that if “Moon” matters, truthful inactive indispensable a Kennedy Center that nourishes and produces specified work.

Following the 3 Kennedy Center performances, “Moon” volition beryllium disposable successful the adjacent seasons implicit parts of America, including Southern California, wherever Morris has a ample pursuing and favored presumption successful galore venues. (The caput of the Broad Stage successful Santa Monica came to D.C. for the premiere.) In the meantime, Morris’ “Pepperland” reaches the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts successful Beverly Hills adjacent period and the Music Center Plaza successful downtown L.A. is offering regular two-minute day breathing and Morris-choreographed question “microbreaks,” meant to assistance america “pause, bespeak and recharge.”

Kennedy Center, please, earlier it is excessively late, pause, bespeak and recharge. America needs you. And you, if you determine to recognize a happening oregon two, volition request us.