{"id":198279,"date":"2026-02-28T17:09:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/198279\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T17:09:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:09:32","slug":"sf-ballet-will-no-longer-perform-at-kennedy-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/198279\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Ballet will no longer perform at Kennedy Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was at the War Memorial Opera House tonight for the opening of\u00a0The Blake Works\u00a0\u2014 William Forsythe’s electrifying triple bill set to music by James Blake \u2014 when ballet staff casually confirmed something that’s been brewing for months: The San Francisco Ballet board has voted to cancel its upcoming performances at the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n

The company had been scheduled to bring\u00a0Mere Mortals, its blockbuster AI-inspired ballet<\/a>, to the Kennedy Center Opera House for a four-day run from May 27 through May 31. That’s no longer happening.<\/p>\n

Details are still thin. I was told the board voted recently, and that the decision had been made. SF Ballet has not yet made a formal public announcement. But for anyone who’s been following this saga \u2014 the news lands with a mix of relief and “what took so long?”<\/p>\n

A quick recap for those just tuning in<\/p>\n

President Trump overhauled the Kennedy Center’s board last year, got himself elected chairman, and installed ally Ric Grenell as president. Then, in December, his handpicked board renamed the venue “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” \u2014 slapping his name ahead of JFK’s on one of the country’s most storied arts institutions. Congress has not authorized the name change, and Kennedy family members have been vocally furious about it.<\/p>\n

What followed was a mass exodus. The Washington National Opera left after performing there since 1971. Composer Philip Glass, Patti LuPone, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Broadway cast of\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables, soprano Ren\u00e9e Fleming, and many others pulled out. Then, in February, Trump announced the center would close entirely on July 4 for a two-year “renovation” \u2014 a move many interpreted as a face-saving response to the hemorrhaging calendar.<\/p>\n

Through all of it, SF Ballet remained conspicuously on the schedule. A Change.org petition started by longtime supporter Daniel Detorie gathered thousands of signatures. Editorials from the\u00a0Bay Area Reporter,\u00a048 Hills, and the\u00a0San Francisco Chronicle\u00a0urged the company to pull out. The board met in early February but made no announcement. The silence was deafening.<\/p>\n

Until tonight.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

SF Ballet is one of the most prestigious dance companies in the world, and\u00a0Mere Mortals\u00a0\u2014 a collaboration between choreographer Aszure Barton, composer Floating Points, and Artistic Director Tamara Rojo \u2014 was a genuine showpiece. Its presence on the Kennedy Center schedule lent legitimacy to a venue that, by most accounts, is a shell of its former self. Pulling out aligns SF Ballet with the broader arts community’s stance that performing there under current leadership isn’t a neutral act.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018Mere Mortals\u2019 changed how I see and experience ballet<\/p>\n

Part nightclub show, part contortion act. The provocative spectacle by San Francisco Ballet puts both feet firmly in the modern era.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It also means something for San Francisco. This is a city that prides itself on standing for something \u2014 even when it’s complicated, and even when there’s money on the table. The petition signers, the editorial boards, and the fans who showed up at the gala in January asking hard questions can take a small victory lap.<\/p>\n

I’ll update this story as more details emerge. For now, I’m heading back to process what was genuinely an incredible opening night for\u00a0The Blake Works\u00a0\u2014 and this very unexpected piece of news that came with it.<\/p>\n

Saul Sugarman is editor-in-chief and owner of The Bold Italic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was at the War Memorial Opera House tonight for the opening of\u00a0The Blake Works\u00a0\u2014 William Forsythe’s electrifying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-198279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-san-francisco","9":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","10":"tag-san-francisco-news","11":"tag-sf","12":"tag-sf-headlines","13":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}