Well, folks, if you thought protests couldn’t get any weirder, let me introduce you to the latest form of political resistance: interpretive dance. Yes, you heard that right. In response to President Donald Trump’s changes at the Kennedy Center, a group of more than 30 protesters took to the streets—not with signs, not with chants, but with synchronized arm waving, invisible violin playing, and some kind of defensive martial arts stance.
A video of the bizarre protest surfaced on X, and let’s just say, social media had a field day. One user asked, “Do these people have jobs?” Another simply wrote, “HAHAHAHAHA.” And then, of course, there was the ever-relevant question: Who paid for those buses? because, naturally, a well-organized protest involving coordinated interpretive dance doesn’t just happen spontaneously.
So what was this all about? Well, the dance itself, called The Nelken Line, is apparently meant to symbolize unity. Protest organizer Kelly King told NPR that the movement is “compelling” because it shows a “straight line of movers dancing this way in a march.” (I’ll let you decide if straight-line synchronized arm waving really screams bold political statement or more elementary school performance).
Video of Democrats protesting the Trump administration at the Kennedy Center via interpretive dance. pic.twitter.com/meT5Aj6bG3
— Nick Ballas (@NicholasBallas) February 19, 2025
King also said that security at the Kennedy Center seemed skeptical at first, but after watching, they realized the dancers “were certainly not a threat.” In fact, she believes they might have even been entertained. And hey, if making security guards chuckle at your protest is the goal, then mission accomplished.
But here’s the kicker: The entire protest was based on fears that Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees would somehow strip away diversity in its programming. The only problem? A Kennedy Center spokesperson made it clear—there are no changes to the dance programming, nor are there any planned. In other words, these folks danced in circles (literally) over a crisis that doesn’t even exist.
This whole thing started after Trump dismissed most of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees, including longtime chairman David Rubenstein, and took over the role himself. Naturally, that sent left-leaning artists into a frenzy, assuming the worst. But so far, the actual policies remain unchanged—making this protest more of a performance for performance’s sake than any real stand against injustice.