On Presidents’ Day in Washington, D.C., a group of Broadway and former Kennedy Center dancers turned movement into message.
The performance, titled “ResistDance,” was created by Tony Award-winning choreographer Mathew Steffens to honor Renée Good and Alex Pretti, two peaceful bystanders killed during federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. What unfolded wasn’t just choreography — it was public grief, resistance, and political expression through the body.
First Stop: The Kennedy Center
The dancers began outside the Kennedy Center.
Wearing deep burgundy costumes, they formed human structures — bodies intertwined, creating shapes that suggested tension, protection, and collapse. At one point, performers shaped themselves into what appeared to be a vehicle, surrounding a woman at the center of the formation.
The piece was interrupted.
Authorities shut down the performance midway, halting the dancers before they could complete the full work. The interruption itself became part of the statement — art confronting power, expression meeting restriction.
Regrouping at the Lincoln Memorial
The dancers didn’t stop.
They moved to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, one of the most symbolic sites in the country — a place long associated with civil rights protests, public speeches, and calls for justice.
There, they completed the full performance.
With the Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument in the background, the dancers delivered the choreography in full — powerful lunges, collapsing bodies, defiant poses. The setting amplified the message: this was not just a performance. It was testimony.
Art as Resistance
“ResistDance” wasn’t a rally with microphones or signs. It was controlled, intentional, and disciplined. But it carried weight.
Dance has always been political. From civil rights marches to anti-war protests, artists have used movement to express what words sometimes cannot. On Presidents’ Day — a holiday meant to honor leadership and national ideals — these dancers asked a harder question:
What does accountability look like?
Whether one agrees with the politics or not, the visual was undeniable: trained artists using their bodies to memorialize loss and demand attention.
A Moment That Lingers
The performance began with disruption outside the Kennedy Center and ended in completion at the Lincoln Memorial.
In that arc — interruption to persistence — the message became clear.
When space closes in one place, expression finds another.
And on Presidents’ Day in Washington, D.C., dance became protest.
