On February 16 a group of 22 dancers from Broadway and the Kennedy Center, calling themselves the First Amendment Troop, staged a performance outside the Performing Arts Center dramatizing the murders of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. The dancers portrayed the car, the victims, and the ICE agents in a performance they called “ResistDance”.
The dancers were partway through their performance when 23 officers stopped the dance saying they were not allowed on federal property.
Director of the performance Bryan Buckley spoke on the incident saying, “it was another stunning moment of how this country is unraveling under Trump. Here you have arguably the country’s most esteemed performance venue being occupied by more police officers than dancers. Those officers shut us down for expressing our First Amendment rights to memorialize the tragic murder of Renée and Alex through dance.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheun posted on social media about the performance and calling it, “weak, corny, and lame. Total loser and simp behavior.”
Buckley continued, “so now, let me get this right: memorials for two slain Americans are total loser and simp behavior? Seems very France 1799 to me.”
Choreographed by Matthew Steffens, the “ResistDance” was performed in full outside the Lincoln Center Memorial.
Buckley said, “we wanted to re-create the last moments of both Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti’s lives through powerful dance and movement—and to capture the spirit and beauty these two special people had brought to the world, and pay tribute to all those innocent people who have died, have been persecuted, imprisoned illegally under the racist and xenophobic leadership of Donald Trump. We wanted to bring hope with this piece. As one, we can prevail in these dark times.”
Officers may have shut down the performance but cameras are everywhere and Buckley said, “iPhone screens have become our nonstop conduit to the news of the outside world. We are always searching for more footage to explain the cascade of disturbing events such as ICE’s unapologetic murders of Renée and Alex. But what art does is make you really pause. It slips into the brain through a back entrance. And leaves never ending imagery that can trigger emotions. Even provide hope that we can overcome this dark moment in world history.”