The weekend of May 27th, the world-renowned Kennedy Center will celebrate John F. Kennedy's 100th birthday with this massive, free, cross-cultural arts festival.
Each year, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts hosts hundreds of unique shows and live performances. This weekend, to celebrate the 100th birthday of the man for whom the center is named, the Kennedy Center will open its doors for a huge free festival. The festival will showcase street art culture, hip-hop and skateboard culture, as well as classical and contemporary arts. The event will feature more than 30 free performances, activities, and events for all ages and tastes. The arts program includes artists from across the U.S., the D.C. region, and abroad. The full schedule is available HERE.Check out the impressive list of highlighted performances below:
• Bandaloop, the pioneer of vertical dance, will present multiple performances suspended from the roof of the Kennedy Center throughout the day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjhZmOH7qR8 • Company E, a D.C-based contemporary dance company, will perform a Kennedy Center–commissioned work and world premiere, "(In) Security, or Jack and Nikki Do the Cold War Tango," in the Grand Foyer using both Millennium Stages simultaneously to explore the John F. Kennedy/ Nikita Khrushchev relationship.
• Flexn will present five different performances of flex dance, an electrifying form of street dance that evolved from Jamaican bruk up and reggae.
[caption id="attachment_1984" align="alignnone" width="863"]
FlexnPhoto by Stephanie Berger.[/caption] • Finding a Line: Skateboarding, Music, and Media will return with a skate park and music stage that will be open and active throughout the day on the plaza. • In "Mouth Open, Story Jump Out," exciting U.K. spoken word artist Polarbear brings international assassins, secret codes, dog-eating boa constrictors, and more to life in the Terrace Gallery as a boy tries to make sense of his father's disappearance. Recommended for ages 8 and up. • The National Memorial Day Choral Festival will be presented in the Concert Hall by Music Celebrations International, the American Veterans Center, and The United States Air Force, featuring a 350-voice choir and the United States Air Force Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Craig Jessop, Col. Larry Lang, and Col. Arnald Gabriel. • The local Washington Ballet will participate in Open House activities by presenting their independent commission "Frontier," inspired by President Kennedy and his aspirations for America to be a leader of artistic, cultural, and intellectual excellence. [caption id="attachment_1982" align="alignnone" width="940"]
Photo: Rosalie O'Connor/Courtesy American Ballet Theatre[/caption]
