November and December are the time of year that you can reliably start to hear the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, both at the Kennedy Center and in the halls of your local mall or on the 24-hour, 7-day-a-week holiday music channel on the radio.
If it is the last week in November, it is time for the Opera House at the Kennedy Center to be filled with young kids and adults alike who flock to see their favorite Christmas-time story about the Nutcracker and a rodent-led revolution.
You might be familiar with the Nutcracker’s themes of gift giving, family gatherings, and dancing snowflakes, but have you thought of the darker side of the ballet? Take a moment to reconsider everything you thought you knew about sugar, childhood, and seasonal propaganda.
In a Nutshell
When the curtain opens, you are presented with an innocent holiday ballet, which quickly evolves into a cautionary tale about unchecked authoritarianism and a rodent-led revolution. We are the check on authoritarianism. Join your voice in our chorus of protest against authoritarianism and partisan leadership at the Kennedy Center.
In the ensuing acts, you explore the fragility of innocence and the beginnings of a rodent uprising .
When the clock strikes twelve, the living room expands in proportion, and the furniture becomes hostile. Mice, tired of the oppressive nut-cracking industrial complex, rise up in revolt. Clara intervenes with decisive moral clarity. Are the mice villains or unionizing workers? (no, not the mice you see running across the aisles in the KC concert hall).
As you enjoy your holiday showing of the Nutcracker, performed by the Cincinnati Ballet this year, and contemplate the unionizing rodents of Clara’s dreams, remember that earlier this year, partisan leaders and Board members at the Kennedy Center ousted dance programming staff in retaliation for their efforts in organizing a union of administrative workers at the Center. This is Union-Busting! Ric Grenell, recognize the Kennedy Center United Arts Workers Union NOW!
When you fire the artists who program and curate dance programming, you are engaging in censorship of art. Partisan culture wars and censorship of art are not welcome in OUR KENNEDY CENTER.
Join our own uprising against authoritarian partisanship, self-dealing, and corruption at the highest levels of the Kennedy Center. Support musicians, artists, and union workers at the Kennedy Center. PACK THE HOUSE PURPLE!
Sign our Petition to hold Ric Grenell and Kennedy Center Board members accountable!
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