a&e features

Webre’s farewell

Long-time Washington Ballet artistic director reflects

Published

10 years ago

June 29, 2016

Septime Webre, gay news, Washington Blade

Septime Webre, artistic director of the Washington Ballet since 1999, says he worked to fuse classical ballet elements with contemporary and popular art during his tenure. (Washington Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)

Imagination Stage Presents ‘The Little Mermaid’

In collaboration with the Washington Ballet

Continues through Aug. 14

Lerner Family Theatre

4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda

Tickets start at $10

imaginationstage.org

Septime Webre didn’t plan on ‘The Little Mermaid,’ an Imagination Stage production produced in collaboration with the Washington Ballet, to be his swan song. It just kind of worked out that way.

But the 54-year-old co-choreographer says everything the Ballet has done this season — he mentions the April “Carmina Burana” performances and the “Bowie & Queen” rock show in May — as being fitting farewells. He wrapped his tenure at the Ballet this week and will join the S&R Foundation, a non-profit started in 2000 by Sachiko Kuno and Ryuji Ueno to support artists and scientists, as its artistic director.

During a Washington Blade interview, Webre — who lives in Adams Morgan with his partner of five years, Marc Cipullo — shared his philosophies, struggles and plans. His comments have been edited for length.

WASHINGTON BLADE: Why are you leaving?

SEPTIME WEBRE: I feel great about my accomplishments here. It’s grown amazingly. But particularly in the last few years, I’ve had a yearning to be in the studio a bit more. Being the director of a company, there are administration duties, PR duties, marketing duties, all that’s involved in overseeing an organization that has grown from a $2 million to a $12 million budget, so I had already been thinking that maybe another chapter would be interesting to really focus on creativity and less institution building for a while. That coincided with a blossoming of my work as a freelance artist in the last few years.

BLADE: Was the managerial aspect stultifying?

WEBRE: No. I’ve enjoyed all that institution building and felt like I wanted to do that while I was still somewhat young and energetic, or at least while my Grindr age was still young. I’m 54 but I skew young. I’m an energetic kind-of guy. So those duties weren’t stultifying, but they certainly got in the way of creating new work. In the last several years, I’ve done full-length ballets based on “The Great Gatsby,” on Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” last year I did a Washington Irving project and also “Alice in Wonderland.” These works have been much in demand over the last five or six years and I’ve also had some commissions by other companies.

BLADE: I assume the name recognition of these works helps?

WEBRE: That’s part of it but it’s also the return of narrative works in ballet after the era of modernism, which was my generation, and an aesthetic dominated by George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham. These were abstract artists and from the mid-century through the time I was dancing, serious choreographers really didn’t tackle narratives. It was not considered serious. But during my choreographic career, I began to tackle them because in many ways, it’s who I am. There’s something inside of me, this boisterous Cuban family and the brothers on the weekend, all we do is get together and drink cold Mexican beer and tell stories. So I was naturally drawn to these great books and they also happen to sell tickets.

BLADE: You were part of a larger trend with this?

WEBRE: I would say I was an early adopter of the return to narrative. … You could feel it in the air, particularly in the ‘90s. … It was a convergence of factors — the death of George Balanchine in the early ‘80s, we had been through modernism and that era and something new was needed. … Also just with the financial realities in the world, ballet companies were increasingly having to rely on box office in a financially challenging market and those story ballets sold better. … I was just on the front of a trend.

BLADE: How much of your work roughly has been choreographing vs. other duties at the Washington Ballet and did that change over time?

WEBRE: I’ve been creating a new work about every two years. That’s probably been the average. In the early years we did one a year, but they were smaller works. I would put my work into three different buckets. One is the creation of new ballet, the second is programmatic creativity, which I found really exciting. Curating repertoire, teaching, developing dancers, developing ancillary programs that are not creating ballets, but they’re really creative like the beerballet&bubbly series that brought thousands and thousands of Millennials in to watch rehearsals. … A third would be institution building.

BLADE: Did you ruffle many feathers along the way?

WEBRE: I never felt I ruffled feathers precisely, but I tried to push the envelope. I took over the Washington Ballet from Mary Day, who was 89 years old when I became the director. She was a fabulous visionary, but the company was a bit sleepy. She had a great aesthetic and she loved classical ballet and she loved new work, so there was a connection I had with her. But right away, the company began to grow. The audiences began to grow, we had standing ovations at every show the first run. In my first year, I took the Washington Ballet to Cuba, we produced a “Carmina Burana” that was, at that time, very unprecedented for us. Those first programs were so popular that a buzz developed very early on.

BLADE: You make it all sound so easy, though. What obstacles did you encounter?

WEBRE: Well, without a doubt our huge labor dispute in 2005. That was immense. We had grown so rapidly over the course of my first five years — the number of performances had probably doubled — we had grown, but the admin support hadn’t grown with it. …. We were working on a huge, new version of “The Nutcracker,” a huge project, and in the midst of that, the dancers very appropriately decided to join a union. That was the right time in our organization’s history to do that, but over the course of negotiating that first contract, which took a year, our “Nutcracker” was canceled and we lost a million dollars. The dancers were out of work for months and there was so much acrimony. We were in the Washington Post every day for 19 days, I think. …. But we were eventually able to settle it when we got the lawyers out of it. We settled in March 2006 and went back to work in April. That was a big one. …. Another challenge was in 2009 when the City Council eliminated earmarks. They rescinded that appropriation two months into our fiscal year and so suddenly we had a million dollar hole and we had to scramble. We had to cancel our “Nutcracker” orchestra to save $350,000 and we performed to taped music, just because otherwise we were not going to survive.

Septime Webre in rehearsal for ‘The Little Mermaid’ at the Washington Ballet studios on Wisconsin Avenue on June 10. (Washington Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)

BLADE: What kind of learning curve did you have here?

WEBRE: I had some strong mentors and I was able to steal some of their ideas. But before this, although I had a little bit of training when I was a director for six years in Princeton, N.J., so my work there really impressed on me that you have to take your work with the audience a step further. You’re not in an ivory tower. You can’t just sort of hang the shingle and hope they’ll come and understand what you’re doing. You have to connect with them more deeply. I’d had some trial and error with that in New Jersey. So I came here with a conviction that the Washington Ballet had to connect with the social fabric of the city and we’ve done that in multiple ways with our outreach programs in Anacostia, Dance DC in public schools, beerballet&bubbly for young professionals, our Latino programs, etc.

BLADE: How have the dancers changed over the time you’ve been here?

WEBRE: About five years into my tenure here, just before the labor dispute actually, we’d never done any full-length classical ballets. No “Giselle,” “Coppelia” or “Don Quixote.” Mary Day never chose to do that because American Ballet was already doing that kind of repertoire at the Kennedy Center. I sensed a kind of unspoken inferiority complex around the organization. No one said it, but I could sense that the dancers thought we couldn’t handle it, our staff thought we couldn’t handle it, our audiences thought we couldn’t do it. A dancer’s career is so short, a dancer wants to dance the full repertory they were trained for, so I made a decision about four years in to slowly, methodically begin to introduce some full-length 19th Century classical works into the repertoire. … I think that helped us be seen as a grown-up company and that’s led to really, really high-powered dancers and a higher quality of dancer. Younger dancers today are coming in with a lot more technique and what a dancer can do now compared with 15 years ago or when I retired 20 years ago, oh my God — they’re doing all this crazy crap that hadn’t even been invented yet. Just like in athletics, the technique has risen, risen, risen.

BLADE: How has being gay affected your career or has it?

WEBRE: The dancers themselves are much less gay than the public imagines. … As I was getting into admin work and started working with board members … I actually found it to be an asset. This is going to sound very retro, but it gave me a kind of exoticism. … They were a lot of businessmen who didn’t necessarily have gay friends, so now they did and it made them feel good about themselves.

BLADE: Are classical works and pop/contemporary works strange bedfellows in the ballet world?

WEBRE: Well, “Giselle” sold significantly less well than “The Great Gatsby” or than “Bowie & Queen.” “Don Quixote” sold less than “The Sun Also Rises” or “The British Invasion.” What I found was that when classical, lofty art remained itself and didn’t get a bit dirty, it was less popular from a ticket sale standpoint. So we remained ballet, but we got down and dirty with Freddie Mercury wailing sometimes. That collision creates a buzz and a connection. … But things are always colliding and mixing in a postmodern world. I mean, I wish everyone loved “Giselle” as much as I do, but it’s also exciting because ballet is a language just like you use the same English language for Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson or Mad Magazine.

The cast of ‘The Little Mermaid.’ (Photo courtesy Imagination Stage)

Jesse Arnholz contributed to this interview.

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a&e features

Rainbows in Revolt on a mission to make LGBTQ artists’ voices heard

Published

5 days ago

July 29, 2026

Kyle Rood

Lily Erin, one of Rainbows in Revolt’s signature artists, performed at Capital Pride in June. (Photo courtesy of Rainbows in Revolt)

Last month’s Pride celebration in D.C. was so fun. Walking around my first Capital Pride with a $15 lemonade I was loving the madness and the color. Artists and small businesses battling banks you’ve never heard of collecting your personal information so you can spin a wheel to snag free merch. Great music blaring, people actually smiling and enjoying themselves, the “Great” American State Fair could never!

The Monument Stage was on Pennsylvania Avenue, directly in front of the National Gallery of Art and I can’t think of a better venue to see live music. How does someone get on the lineup for Pride? How do we accelerate the visibility of the most talented voices in our community to perform in places like this?

There is certainly not a talent gap, but there is a visibility gap. Chappell Roan went from playing for two people in a parking lot to owning the main stage at Coachella in one year. Whether it is shadowbanning or bias in AI, algorithms have been shown to suppress queer artists. In a digital age, how can queer people break through and show the world how talented they are?

Allison and Matt of Rainbows in Revolt are on a mission to make openly LGBTQ+ artists’ voices heard. Their goal is to find “musicians whose queerness is central to their identity as an artist,” and accelerate them to a place where they can actually reach fans.

The only time queer events seem to be in the spotlight is June, but this should be year round, according to Allison and Matt. Rainbows in Revolt wants to act as a “nucleus” for different sub-communities, finding common ground in the universal language of music.

Matt and Allison founded Rainbows as a way to make cheaper, higher quality merchandise for queer artists. While Rainbows has already pledged 20% of their profits to the LGBTQ+ community, with 10% to Whitman-Walker Health and 10% to LGBTQ+ organizations in need, this is just the beginning of the work that they do.

Rainbows “does the dirty work” that artists normally struggle to do on their own with limited resources. Interviews, artist profiles, social promotion, playlist discovery, radio outreach, and merch-funded support. This work is normally expensive, time consuming, and requires lots of different skills. Musicians don’t want to be editing clips to post online. Standup comedians don’t want to make graphics for their tour dates. They want to write more. They want to focus on their craft.

In addition to helping artists find their audience, Rainbows has built other digital tools to help queer people connect, including an interactive Safe Space Map for most major cities. It is hard to know which places are truly safe and supportive just from a simple Google search. Attitudes and actions change, and there should be a simple way for queer people to find other places that align with them. The Safe Spaces Maps are all up to date, and are tagged and filterable. Instead of relying on forums and word of mouth, Rainbows has created a centralized way to find authentic community quickly.

I had a chance to talk with Allison and Matt at Pride where Lily Erin, one of their signature artists, was performing on the Monument stage. Lily Erin is a folk singer who is familiar and forging her own path. Her bittersweet sound echoes through Acadia, and her garb mirrors the New England athletes I grew up with. Gorp Core meets streetwear. A graphic tee, hiking shorts, and creamsicle Jordans.

Her debut single, “Bus Stop,” tells a sad story about unconditional love, and the conditions that still seem to come with it. Graduating into lockdown, Erin needed a new way to connect with herself and others. Lily made “Bus Stop” without an intention to share it, but doing so was a liberation. People have been responding to her honesty around queer-ness, family, and the “ghosts which haunt us” even in the daytime.

Rainbows in Revolt has helped Lily Erin go from bars and backyards to The Monument Stage at Pride. This is a meteoric rise, and a testament to both Erin’s talent and the work of Rainbows to promote her. “A little encouragement goes a long way with early artists,” and by “planting a seed” Rainbows is already seeing their artist garden grow. Community is power, and Erin is a perfect example of how effective simple modern techniques of promotion can be.

A next step for Rainbows is putting on shows themselves. On Oct. 3, Rainbows in Revolt will host an Evening with Ray Boltz at the National City Christian Church. Boltz grew up in the Catholic Church and for many years was the soundtrack to many services, youth camps, and church groups. He was celebrated by millions until he came out in 2008. Allison remembers her community “never playing his music again.”

Rainbows in Revolt is helping him to return to the church, and proving that identity does not need to be exclusive. We live in a complicated world with complicated lines being drawn. Boltz proves that these lines don’t exist, and will be breaking down barriers to bring together communities. To Allison, “a trans woman standing next to a straight white man in church is a powerful teacher.”

The Safe Space maps bridge all types of spaces, and one of the unlikely ones is, perhaps, churches. Matt said that “BYU has only nine safe spaces around their campus and seven of them are churches.” Not all churches are anti-gay, and many times they are the only place for people to find community.

Rainbows in Revolt is just getting started bridging gaps and building community.

a&e features

Summer in the City: Free exhibits, movies, more fill D.C.’s calendar

America 250 celebrations continue

Published

1 week ago

July 26, 2026

Emma LaPointe

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande star in ‘Wicked,’ screening Sept. 12 at Union Market. (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)

From late-night museum visits and outdoor jazz concerts to free movie screenings and America250 exhibitions, Washington’s summer calendar is packed with events that don’t charge admission. Here’s a look at some of the free activities happening across the District through September and beyond.

Museum exhibitions

The Renwick Gallery is presenting State Fairs: Growing American Craft, an exhibition that looks at unique and unconventional crafts from the 19th century to the present. It will run until Sept. 7, and admission is free.

The Arts and Industries Building, located next to the Smithsonian Castle, is presenting the exhibition Voices and Votes: Exploring Democracy Across America. The exhibition features the development of American independence and what that has meant over time, beginning with the Revolutionary War. Admission to the museum is free, and the exhibition runs until Sept. 7.

The National Gallery of Art presents Dear America, an exhibit featuring more than 100 pieces of work, including letters, photographs, and drawings that depict American landscapes and depictions of freedom. The exhibition will run until Sept. 20.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts is exhibiting Burnished: Pueblo Pottery until Sept. 27. The exhibit features pottery from the Southwest, and while most of the pottery belongs to women artists, a few also reflect those who have advocated for women.

Extending past this summer, the exhibition ¡Puro Ritmo! The Musical Journey of Salsa will be at the National Museum of the American Latino until July 2028. The exhibition shows how Afro-Cuban music has become a staple in the U.S. Admission is free.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library will feature the exhibition District Vibes / American Pride: How DC Changed American Culture, which will highlight all of the ways D.C. has impacted American life. The exhibit will run until Sept. 27.

At the Folger Shakespeare Library, the exhibit Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era will be on view through Aug. 2. All the portraits on display come from the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London.

The United States Botanic Garden will be open until 8 p.m. on Aug. 20 and Sept. 17, as part of America’s State Flowers: An America250 Celebration. The evenings will include live music, mocktails, ice cream, and snacks.

The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden will have extended hours, staying open until 8 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday until Sept. 3.

Live performances

On Aug. 7, the postgame Nationals concert series will continue with Jordan Davis performing. To see the concert, guests just need to buy tickets to the Nationals game.

Jazz in the Garden will run each Friday until Aug. 14. The event has free admission, but those interested have to enter a lottery due to the high demand for the event.

From May to October, Capital Harvest Market occurs every Wednesday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The market features fresh foods, crafts, and recipes for unique dishes. A full list of vendors is available on Capital Harvest’s website.

Live! Concert Series on the Plaza will feature live performances at Woodrow Wilson Plaza until Sept. 25. The performances run Monday to Friday from 12-1 p.m. Admission is free to the performances.

DowntownDC Live! at Anthem Row is running until July 30, with free performances every Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The final performance will feature HUE and a vintage flea market hosted by Get Flee Marketplace.

Located in Adams Morgan, AdMo Vibe will present live performances every Thursday at 6 p.m. in Kalorama Park. Guests are encouraged to check out Adams Morgan before and after shows, and it is an event for all ages.

Other events

Union Market is hosting drive-in movies on Aug. 8, featuring “Monsters, Inc.”, and Sept. 12, featuring “Wicked.” On Aug. 8, the parking lot will open at 7:30 p.m., with the movie starting at 8:25 p.m. On Sept. 12, the parking lot will open at 6:35 p.m., and the movie will start at 7:30 p.m.

Sunset Cinema at the Wharf will also be available one day a month. On Aug. 12, “10 Things I Hate About You” will premiere, and on Aug. 26, “Project Hail Mary.” No tickets are necessary.

The Library of Congress will also show movies. On Aug. 6, guests are invited to watch “Apollo 13.” The movie will be shown at 8 p.m., with additional live performances beginning at 7 p.m.

For fans of Asian media, the Okaton convention will be at Walter E. Washington Convention Center from July 31-Aug. 2. Festivities will include cosplay contests, skits, live music, and panel discussions.

Washington Spirit’s season also begins in August. The Spirit is Washington’s National Women’s League, with matchups occurring between the San Diego Wave, the North Carolina Courage, the Orlando Pride, and the Bay FC.

a&e features

Summer in D.C. brings sports, Restaurant Week, festivals, and more

Published

2 weeks ago

July 23, 2026

Evan Caplan

Washington Spirit CEO Kim Stone hosts Pride Night OUT on Sunday, Aug. 23. (Photo courtesy of Washington Spirit)

Summer in D.C. just hits different. Congress is out, school is out, the sun is out, thighs are out. With the skies clearing from Canadian smoke, here are a few ways to stay entertained.

Dining

Summer restaurant week: The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) is once again hosting Summer Restaurant Week, Aug. 18-24. This weeklong dining experience showcases the dynamic dining scene of the DMV, including 2026 RAMMY Award-winning favorites (the annual D.C. food awards show that took place June 29). Participating restaurants will offer three-course brunch and lunch selections for $25 or $35 per person, and three-course dinners for $40, $55 and $65 per person.

New Restaurants: A handful of new spots have opened, so the summer is a great time to check them out:

Oribu: A new Mediterranean-Japanese restaurant in the Grand Hyatt hotel, which just underwent a remodeling effort. The sleek restaurant brings upscale charm, with dishes like Wagyu beef tartare with potato pavé and caviar.
The Oak Room: A snazzy old-school American grill has just opened in Georgetown, alongside its sister upstairs supper club (Bernadette’s) restaurant, in the old El Centro space.
Uchi: This showy Japanese sushi-forward chain has landed in Dupont with a chef’s tasting menu of favorites like fatty tuna.
Kathmandu: Recalling the capital of Nepal, this warm, buzzy subterranean restaurant right in the heart of U Street brings spice, flair, and rare ingredients to its dishes (see: buffalo burgers) and drinks.

Sports

Washington Spirit Pride Night OUT: On Sunday, Aug. 23, head to Audi Field for a massive, high-energy game following the exciting month of World Cup. The designated Pride Night OUT game promises boisterous crowds plus pre- and post-game community engagements.
Washington Tennis Open – Now called the Mubadala DC Open, this annual tournament is only combined mens’ and womens’ 500-level tennis tournament in the world. The open is one of D.C.’s longest-standing sports traditions, and will take place at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center July 25-Aug. 2. Naomi Osaka, Venus Williams, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, and others are expected to play.

Festivals

Afro Plus Fest: This huge, three-day Afro-Caribbean Hip-Hop Festival brings together headliners Davido, Alkaline, and Wizkid, plus Tems and Ayra Starr. The event moves from RFK to the Northwest Stadium Complex for three days, Sept. 4-6.
Capital Fringe Festival: Running from July 11-21, this massive celebration features dozens of live theater, comedy, dance, and boundary-pushing nighttime performances across multiple DC neighborhoods.
The National Book Festival returns, with headliners like Cynthia Erivo, and Martin Scorsese. The one-day festival, Saturday, Aug. 22, brings together bookworms and word nerds under the theme “America 250: It’s Your Story.” There are talks, workshops, musical sessions and more.
All Things Go: A three-day festival Sept. 25-27 at Merriweather Post Pavilion featuring Mitski, Hayley Williams, Brandi Carlile, MUNA, Zara Larsson, Ethel Cain, and many, many more artists. There are single-day and three-day tickets. Featuring and highlighting female artists, the festival has turned into a must-see for many LGBTQ audience members.
Fuchsia Fest: The inaugural Fuchsia Fest is a new multi-day celebration created to celebrate LGBTQ community and expression, bringing together a mix of community gatherings, entertainment, and nightlife. The event takes place Sept. 18-20 and is hosted by Capital Pride.

Art and Music

United We Dance: A high-energy rave with house, techno, bass, and festival music, on Aug. 1 at the 9:30 Club.
The Fray. On Aug. 14, this American rock band famous for How To Save A Life is at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Kesha: Kesha’s high-energy The Freedom Tour comes to the D.C. area on Aug. 14 at Jiffy Lube Live.
ALOK: On Sept. 3 at Lincoln Theater, ALOK (they/them) performs. The poet, comedian, and actor is putting on a new comedy show.
2charm, the emerging Australian electronic club-pop duo popular with the queer community, which blends hyperpop and dance music, comes to the Atlantis.
Sapphic Dance Party: a vibrant, inclusive nightlife and social event designed specifically for queer women, lesbians, bisexuals, trans individuals, and nonbinary folks, at Atlantis on Aug. 21.
Jazz in the Garden: The most quintessential of D.C. activities returns Friday evenings through Aug. 14. This season’s theme, “American Sounds,” is a nod to the nation’s 250th anniversary. Tunes themes range from Appalachian and Americana to Creole jazz, Hill Country blues, contemporary jazz, and more. Tickets are available through a lottery system a week before each event.