A New York dance company that recently nixed scheduled appearances at the Kennedy Center is coming to George Mason University’s Center for the Arts instead.
Doug Varone and Dancers will visit the Fairfax performing arts venue (4373 Mason Pond Drive) on Saturday, April 25 for a free show in the concert hall, the Center for the Arts announced today.
Tickets are required for the performance, though they will be available free of charge. They go on sale to Center for the Arts donors and season subscribers tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10 a.m. and to the general public on Friday (Feb. 6) at 10 a.m.
“We are thrilled to be able to add Doug Varone and Dancers to the Center for the Arts’ 2025–26 schedule, and even more excited to share this extraordinary company with our community free of charge,” GMU College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean Rick Davis said in a press release. “… This newly added performance reflects our continued commitment to providing a supportive home for modern dance in the region.”
Details of the free program are still being finalized and will be announced closer to the performance date, a Center for the Arts spokesperson told FFXnow.
However, the show is scheduled for the same weekend that Doug Varone and Dancers were slated to perform at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. Marking the company’s 40th anniversary, that April 24-25 engagement would’ve featured three reparatory works by Varone, an award-winning choreographer and director who has worked in theater, opera and film as well as dance.
“Each piece provides a unique showcase for Varone’s postmodern — and distinctly American — choreography,” the Kennedy Center said when unveiling its 2025-2026 dance season last May.
Doug Varone and Dancers announced on Dec. 29 that they could “no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution” after Kennedy Center trustees appointed by President Donald Trump voted earlier that month to add his name to the venue.
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The dance company said it “totally disagreed” with the Trump administration’s takeover of the Kennedy Center early last year, a process that included the ousting of the arts center’s longtime leaders and a purge of Democratic appointees to the board of trustees that then elected the sitting U.S. president as its new chair.
Varone’s company intended to still perform at the Kennedy Center “out of respect” for local audiences as well as former Director of Dance Programming Jane Raleigh and former Vice President of International Programming and Dance Alicia Adams, who had curated the new season before they were let go last spring.
But the name change — which is being challenged in court and by Democrats in Congress — “kind of pushed me off a cliff,” Varone told NPR when explaining his decision to withdraw from the Kennedy Center.
“I believe that the level of artistry has dropped drastically since the administration change, and the employees that were responsible for the quality of the work at the center have all been let go,” Varone said after noting that the Kennedy Center was established by Congress as a “living memorial” for John F. Kennedy, a vocal champion of the arts as president.
In addition to seeing a surge in artist cancellations that has accelerated since the rebranding, ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have reportedly plummeted under its current leadership. D.C.’s premier performing arts venue now faces further uncertainty after Trump abruptly announced on Sunday (Feb. 1) that it will close for two years in July, supposedly for renovations.
In the Center for the Arts’ press release, Varone said crowdfunding efforts in the wake of the Kennedy Center cancellation helped make its upcoming free performance at Mason possible.
“Our relationships with the Center for the Arts at George Mason University spans decades, and we are so appreciative of the opportunity to add this performance to their schedule so quickly after we cancelled our performance at the Kennedy Center,” he said. “We are excited to show our gratitude for the incredible outpouring of support nationwide.”
Doug Varone and Dancers last visited GMU’s Fairfax campus in March 2023 for a one-week residency that ended with a performance featuring students from the university’s School of Dance. The company had previously collaborated with Mason students for a performance in 2017.
One student who worked with Doug Varone and Dancers during its 2023 residency before graduating that summer recently joined the company as a professional dancer. Dareon Blowe will perform in the upcoming April 25 show, according to the Center for the Arts.
