The Martha Graham Dance Company has canceled its performance at the Kennedy Center.
America’s oldest group was set to perform at the venue in April as part of its centennial nationwide tour.
“The Martha Graham Dance Company regrets that we are unable to perform at the Kennedy Center in April,” it said in a statement Friday. “We hope to perform at the center in the future.”
The Martha Graham Dance Company did not give a reason why it pulled out of the Kennedy Center performance. / Danny Lawson – PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images
The company did not offer a reason for the cancellation, but it joins a growing list of performers who have canceled their Kennedy Center dates after Donald Trump added his name to the building.
On December 19, Trump bypassed Congress and had construction crews add his name to the Kennedy Center. Trump’s hand-picked Kennedy Center board approved the decision, although an act of Congress is needed to change the building’s official name.
Trump bypassed Congress to drop his name on the Kennedy Center. / Getty Images via Celal Gunes/Anadolu
Critics have pointed out that the building’s new title, “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” is a memorial to the still-living 79-year-old president.
Following the controversial and unofficial name change, acts including Grammy-winning bluegrass artist Bela Fleck, Mexican-born songwriter Sonia de los Santos, and the Washington National Opera have canceled performances at the Kennedy Center.
The Martha Graham Dance Company, which has been in operation since 1926, has ties to the Trump family. First lady Melania Trump was named honorary chair of the group in 2005.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As artists began to leave the Kennedy Center, Richard Grenell, the center’s president, made several comments about the exit. On January 10, after the Washington National Opera canceled its contract with the Kennedy Center, he trashed the company as a financial disaster for the center.
After Bela Fleck stopped performing, Grenell accused the bluegrass legend of catering to a “raised crowd”.
Grenell also took swings at The Daily Beast in January, writing that under CEO Ben Sherwood, The Beast, “has become more radical and meaningful.”
Richard Grenell struck
Since the start of the second Trump administration, the Kennedy Center has been on a campaign to eliminate “Awakening” from its dance lineup.
In August, it hired dancer Stephen Nakagawa as its new director of dance and programming. Nakagawa got the job after writing a letter to Grenell in which he expressed concern about the “aggressive culture” in groups like the Washington Ballet. He also expressed a desire to “end the dominance of left-wing ideologies in the arts and return to the purity and timeless beauty of classical ballet”.
Kennedy Center head Richard Grenell (left) is said to be trying to get the Kennedy Center to host more dance events.
The Kennedy Center has historically hosted major touring groups such as the American Ballet Theater and the New York City Ballet. It has also staged modern productions developed by contemporary ballet choreographers, such as Jamieson Curcio and Shanice Mason. The center hosted the pair I want to tell you a secret…What the Kennedy Center website describes on Aug. 22 as “an invitation to discover, reframe, and practice being in community with black women and women.”
Grenell’s approach to Kennedy Center dance is different. The New York Times reported in August that Grenell pushed the now-fired dance programmers to have the Kennedy Center program the same as the Fox competition show. So you think you can dance? Before he hired Nakagawa.
