This July marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. If you find yourself in Washington D.C. on Saturday, July 18, you might be able to catch a reenactment of this historic event.


Andrew Dawson, the performer and director, will rely only upon a black backdrop and his own hands to tell the story of how the spaceship Apollo 11 made it from Houston, to the moon, and back to earth once more.

The piece is called "Space Panorama" and will be accompanied by Shostakovich's 10th Symphony to heighten the dramatic story communicated through gestures and facial expressions. The piece was created in 1989 as part of the Northern Festival of Mime and Dance in Kendal, Cumbria and has since been performed worldwide.

The artist formulated the piece by thinking of the way in which the moon landing was, like so many other events of the 1960s, a "tele-visual" event.

The unforgettable images of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking along the moon's surface and driving the American flag into the ground, the barely audible, crackling communication with NASA and the innumerable photographs of people gathered to watch the take-off and landing, either on TV or in person, are all elements of 20th century history ingrained into public consciousness through the use of sights and sounds.

In "Space Panorama," Dawson is seeking to recreate the level of anticipation and wonderment conjured by this event forty years ago.

The two performances on July 18, at 2pm and 7:30pm at The Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater will be followed by a 30-minute post-performance discussion with the artist. Tickets are available online or by phone at 202-467-4600.