One expected consequence of Dance Place closing for a seven-month renovation project: The District is short one venue for smaller troupes. One unexpected result: the Kennedy Center stepping up to host them. Or stepping up to host at least one much-loved formerly local company, when Nejla Yatkin’s NY2Dance performs Oasis at the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater. Yatkin is probably best known for her striking solos (she is nearly six feet tall) and “Wall Stories,” her multimedia dance narrative about life in 1980s Berlin. (She grew up in Germany and lived in the D.C. area for several years, but she’s of Turkish descent.) Oasis is a work for seven dancers that explores reality and mythological constructs in the Middle East; NY2Dance comes to D.C. after a Latin American tour and performances of Oasis in New York and at the Bates Dance Festival. Yes, we miss Dance Place already, but the chance to see Yatkin’s high caliber company for free is so tantalizing, it seems like an August mirage. NY2Dance performs at 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Family Theater, 2700 F St. NW. Free. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org.