The oldest dance troupe in the United States decided not to perform at the Washington venue during its nationwide tour.The Martha Graham Dance Company had been scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center four times in April.

“Sons of Echo,” in which standout male dancers perform work by women, proves that male choreographers don’t have a monopoly on bad taste.Osiel Gouneo and Alban Lendorf in Lucinda Childs’s “Notes,” part of “Sons of Echo” at the Joyce Theater.

Deborah Warner, known for directing theater and opera, succeeds Pierre Audi, who died last year. Her own work is expected to be part of her programming.Warner’s work includes “The Angel Project,” from the early 2000s, an interdisciplinary journey across vacant spaces in New York.

The company revived and revised a work that juxtaposes formal movement with a sound score that incorporates recordings of the 1979 White Night riots in San Francisco.

Graham, the great modern dance choreographer, named him her heir, setting off a bitter legal battle between him and the troupe she founded.Ron Protas with Martha Graham in 1984. Despite a lack of experience in dance or arts administration, Mr. Protas became her confidant and, after her death in 1991, artistic director of her dance company.