{"id":102882,"date":"2026-01-17T01:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T01:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102882\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T01:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T01:09:08","slug":"martha-graham-dance-company-cancels-kennedy-center-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102882\/","title":{"rendered":"Martha Graham Dance Company cancels Kennedy Center show"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s iconic Martha Graham Dance Company<\/a>, the oldest dance troupe in the United States, has become the latest act to cancel a date with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts<\/a>, following a slew of boycotts in recent months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Martha Graham Dance Company regrets that we are unable to perform at the Kennedy Center in April,\u201d\u00a0 the company said in a Friday statement sent to the Daily News. \u201cWe hope to perform at the center in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 100-year-old troupe, which is currently touring to celebrate its centennial<\/a>, didn\u2019t give an explanation for its change in plans.<\/p>\n

Numerous entertainers have chosen to pull out of performances at the Kennedy Center ever since Trump returned to power in 2025, replaced its board with his supporters and\u00a0named himself its chairman<\/a>,\u00a0with a stated intent to purge the institution of what he called \u201cwoke\u201d programming.<\/a><\/p>\n

The cancellations continued<\/a> after it was announced last month the venue would henceforth be known as the Trump-Kennedy Center<\/a>, followed by the president\u2019s name being added to the building\u2019s exterior wall.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Center, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)<\/p>\n

In the wake of the renaming<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which is essentially illegal without legislative action<\/a> \u2014 jazz drummer Chuck Redd nixed the Christmas Eve show<\/a> he\u2019s been performing for nearly 20 years. In the days that followed, many other artists also canceled shows, including New York City-based acts like the Asian AF comedy troupe, jazz musician Wayne Tucker and his band, The Bad Mothas<\/a>, and the dance company Doug Varone and Dancers.<\/p>\n

Stephen Schwartz,\u00a0the Oscar-winning composer\u00a0of \u201cWicked,\u201d \u201cGodspell\u201d and \u201cPippin,\u201d also\u00a0boycotted the Kennedy Center<\/a>\u00a0in protest of the president\u2019s takeover, saying there\u2019s\u00a0\u201cno way\u201d he\u2019d \u201cset foot\u201d in the building<\/a>\u00a0as it \u201cno longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell raged last week<\/a> when Grammy-winning banjo player B\u00e9la Fleck blamed the politicization of the D.C. cultural institution for his decision to call off three upcoming performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just made it political and caved to the woke mob<\/a> who wants you to perform for only Lefties,\u201d the MAGA loyalist fumed on social media.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the annual \u201cLet Freedom Ring\u201d concert<\/a> honoring Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. announced it was leaving the Kennedy Center after more than 20 years<\/a> to instead perform at Washington, D.C.\u2019s Howard Theater. The show\u2019s sponsor told NPR the relocation was a financial decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Few big names now remain on the Kennedy Center\u2019s calendar<\/a> for 2026, with the majority of performances being dedicated to orchestral acts and touring musicals. As of Friday, the New York City Ballet was still listed<\/a> as having a scheduled series of shows in June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City\u2019s iconic Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest dance troupe in the United States, has become…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[47031,33591,47030,9,24,55,54,56,655],"class_list":["post-102882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-dance-company","tag-kennedy-center","tag-martha-graham","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-trump-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}