Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Midori and Dick Van Dyke on being this year's Kennedy Center

(21 May 2021) KENNEDY CENTER HONOREES STILL RELISH SLIMMED-DOWN TRIBUE
This year's Kennedy Center Honors may be a slimmed-down affair as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic _ but honoree Dick Van Dyke still says it's ``the capper on my career.''
      
The 43rd class also includes country music legend Garth Brooks, dancer and choreographer Debbie Allen, singer-songwriter Joan Baez and violinist Midori. They were honored Friday (21MAY2021) night at a medallion ceremony that had been delayed from December 2020.
      
All the honorees called the lifetime artistic achievement award a unique honor, even for an accomplished artist.
At a separate press event Friday evening, Brooks joked: ``I don't mind being the weak link on the chain. I'm in the chain!''
      
Several of the artists said they hoped their modified ceremony would be one of a series of benchmarks in the country's cultural reopening.
     
Midori said it made her happy, ``coming out of these very dark times, to be able to see the arts coming back.''
      
Allen is a veteran of tribute programs for previous Kennedy Center Honors recipients. She said this year's process was uniquely intimate.
"We're spending a lot more time together than other groups of honorees,'' she said. Brooks echoed the sentiment. ``So remember everything that is a blessing is a curse and everything that is a curse is a blessing. Maybe the curse is that we're all separated without the crowds, but the blessing has been the level of sincerity. I mean as a performer for a lot of these and being drug around a lot from here to there, we got to move at our own pace. We got to enjoy our own people where, well, I speak for me, I leave here as a fan of these people more than as a fellow honoree."
Instead of the usual several-hour black-tie event, followed by dinner, Friday's festivities ran just 90 minutes with a limited audience. The musical performances and tributes _ traditionally the centerpiece of the event _ were split into two other nights; one took place Thursday and the second is scheduled for Saturday.
      
Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter Rutter told reporters they ``had been filming tributes all over campus.'' All the events will be edited into a television special, which will be broadcast on CBS on June 6.
      
The honorees met with President Joe Biden on Thursday, marking a return to tradition after former President Donald Trump avoided the celebration during his tenure. Trump's presence in the White House hung over the annual events from the start, with several 2017 honorees threatening to boycott if he attended.
      
Trump chose to stay away for the entirety of his time in office, to the quiet relief of administrators who otherwise may have faced an uprising from the artists.
Baez treated reporters to an impromptu rendition of "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" which she performed in the Oval Office during the White House Ceremony Thursday. She sang, "Keep on walking, keep on talking, keep on singing, keep on swinging, gonna build a brand new world."
      
The performing arts center is planning a full-scale reopening in September with events slowly ramping up until then. The 44th Kennedy Center Honors program should take place, back on its usual schedule, in December.

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