Pressure mounts for San Francisco Ballet to cancel Trump Kennedy Center appearance
Pressure is mounting on San Francisco Ballet to rethink its upcoming trip to Washington, D.C., as criticism continues to swirl around President Donald Trump’s recent takeover of the Kennedy Center.
A new Change.org petition is urging the company to pull out of its late‑May run of Mere Mortals, arguing that performing there now could make the company appear aligned with an institution that many feel has become politically charged. The petition’s creator, Daniel Detorie, describes himself as a proud San Franciscan and longtime San Francisco Ballet supporter, and says it pains him to raise concerns about an organisation he loves.
The controversy is unfolding as Trump faces criticism for ousting much of the Kennedy Center’s board, putting himself in charge, and green‑lighting a name change that puts his own name ahead of President John F. Kennedy’s – the performing arts venue is now known as the Trump Kennedy Center, in full, “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts”. Congress has not yet authorized the name change. Members of the Kennedy family have been outspoken in their objections: Jack Schlossberg has questioned whether the change is even legal, while Kerry Kennedy has said she’d personally remove Trump’s name from the building. Joe Kennedy III and Maria Shriver have also criticised the move, with Shriver calling it “beyond comprehension”.
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote an opinion piece on San Francisco Ballet’s planned visit:
Rather than waiting to become a passive victim of the Kennedy Center’s politicization — or worse yet, colluding with the Trump administration to perpetuate it – San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company and the other troupes booked have an opportunity to band together in solidarity with art, not propaganda.
It added:
San Francisco Ballet is a prestigious troupe drawing international acclaim. Performing at the Kennedy Center under its current leadership would not be a neutral act; it would lend legitimacy to a government now acting to repress the freedom of thought and expression. Refusing to dance at the center is not a dead end, but an opportunity for further solidarity.
The stakes here are twofold: Standing against authoritarianism and in solidarity with artists matters not only to democracy, but to the survival of art.
Soprano Renée Fleming and band leader Ben Folds quit their Kennedy Center advisory roles, musician Rhiannon Giddens and actress Issa Rae cancelled engagements, and performers in a production of Les Misérables refused to take the stage when they learned Trump would be attending the show.
In March of 2025, Hamilton, the musical, which was to have been part of the Kennedy Center’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, was pulled. In an interview with the New York Times, the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, said:
This latest action by Trump means it’s not the Kennedy Center as we knew it. The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center.
San Francisco Ballet hasn’t made a statement, and the May performances are listed on the Kennedy Center’s website – tickets for Mere Mortals go on sale in early February. The work is a contemporary retelling of the Pandora myth through the lens of artificial intelligence and was commissioned by Artistic Director Tamara Rojo with choreography by Aszure Barton – it premiered in San Francisco in January 2024.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
Thank you for this article. I’m surprised that no one has raised the same concern about NYC ballet! They performed there in 2025, and according to the Kennedy Center website, they are supposed to perform their in June of this year as well.
I also was wondering about NYCB, but June is a long way off. I hope the SFB will NOT perform at the Kennedy Center. The renaming of it is an absolute outrage.
This to me is a no brainer. They can go back to the center once trumps fascist administration is gone. They are an outstanding ballet troupe as are all the other dance groups listed. I applaud their leaning towards not going. There are other venues that they can dance and be applauded.