by Rebecca Stussman ’12

On Friday, December 16, I had the Kennedy Center Experience. I dressed in an urbane sweater-dress with chic boots and rolled up to DC alongside affluent, cultured families with their tiny but precocious children. I strolled along the decorative halls and browsed an overpriced gift shop. I even dined before my show at the lavish Roof Terrace Restaurant, where I enjoyed three whole bites of creatively-named lettuce for a fair fifteen dollars.

Then I slipped into the vast theater, took my back-row balcony seat and saw the curtain slowly rise to reveal the opening number of “Billy Elliot,” a play about a young boy in a 1980s English mining town during a miners’ strike who discovers a surprising love of dance that rejuvenates himself and his entire struggling community. I truly had the Kennedy Center Experience.

The opening number was breathtaking, a flurry of intentional confusion and musical explosion; dancers wildly raced around the stage and talented children portrayed the furious energy of the spirited town that would become the center of the work and—for the next three hours—of audience members’ hearts. I took in every word during each of those meaningful, intelligent and adorably cliché songs, all written by the legendary Elton John.

I laughed as the main character, Billy reluctantly shed his boxing gloves for the pink tutu of his ballet class against his father’s wishes but in obedience with his inner passion. I grew remorseful as, to an ever-loudening somber drumbeat, the townspeople and police engaged in violent, strike-related riots that unnerved the town and terrified the children. I fell almost instantly in love with the character of Michael Caffrey, a young cross-dresser with a shy crush on Billy and an astounding capacity for selflessness and compassion. “Billy Elliot” is an endearing play with legitimate substance that captures the essence of theater and, though it offers nothing entirely unique to the performing arts culture, it is an enjoyable and worthwhile experience for adolescents and adults.

Few places in the country have theater as renowned as the performances offered by the Kennedy Center. New York remains a Mecca of art and in some populated cities along the West coast, theater reigns. But the Kennedy Center, along the banks of the Potomac River and at the heart of DC, is rare. And close. And valuable. Professional theater is inspiring. It is moving and powerful and comical and passionate and shocking and beautiful. Look past the pretentious pearl-toting families and intimidating prestige and ridiculously overpriced gourmet dining. Come for the true Kennedy Center Experience. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.