San Francisco Ballet Cancels DC Shows
San Francisco Ballet has canceled its planned Kennedy Center dates, a notable setback for the touring company and fans in Washington, D.C. The decision comes as a disappointment to the dance community, which had anticipated the performances as a highlight of the spring season.
The canceled performances were to be the company's blockbuster "Mere Mortals," a contemporary ballet that reimagines the myth of Pandora's Box through the lens of artificial intelligence and technology. The production, a fusion of electronic music by composer Floating Points and choreography by Aszure Barton, was a highlight of Artistic Director Tamara Rojo's inaugural season. The decision to withdraw from the May 27-31 engagement followed mounting pressure, including a Change.org petition that garnered thousands of signatures from ballet patrons and supporters. The petition argued that performing at the Kennedy Center under its current leadership would align the ballet with a politicized institution and undermine the company's values of diversity and inclusion. San Francisco Ballet is not the first major company to cancel its Kennedy Center dates. The Washington National Opera, its resident company for over 50 years, also announced its departure, and a growing list of other artists and productions have withdrawn since the changes in the center's leadership and its controversial renaming. The Kennedy Center's leadership has publicly criticized artists who have canceled, attributing the decisions to "intolerance" and caving to a "woke mob." In at least one instance with another artist, the center's president, Richard Grenell, threatened a lawsuit for damages due to a last-minute cancellation. For the fiscal year ending in June 2024, the San Francisco Ballet reported revenues of $70.4 million and expenses of $64.2 million, resulting in a net income of over $6.2 million. This financial position provides context for the company's ability to withstand the potential financial repercussions of canceling a major touring engagement. The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the union representing the dancers, had previously issued a statement expressing that it was "heartbreaking to watch what's happened at the Kennedy Center over the past year, as audiences and performers alike react to political shifts within the institution." The union emphasized that the Kennedy Center was established by federal law as a living memorial to serve all people.
