By Elizabeth Myong
Dallas Black Dance Theatre terminated its entire company of dancers Friday, according to a statement posted on social media by the labor union representing the dancers. A national organizer for the union confirmed Saturday that nine dancers were impacted. The surprise move comes months after the dancers had formed a union to negotiate with the company’s management.
DBDT leadership did not immediately respond to an interview request from Arts Access, the journalism partnership of The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
However, a statement posted on the dance company’s official Instagram account appears to allude to the firing: ”It is a decision that DBDT does not take lightly, but one that is necessary to preserve our legacy of professionalism and excellence in dance. Unfortunately, we recently discovered that our dancers engaged in conduct that fails to align with DBDT’s standard of performing at the highest level of artistic excellence and violates several of DBDT’s policies. As a result, the actions are necessary to preserve DBDT’s public standing.”
The post stopped short of describing what the actions were, and comments for DBDT’s posts have since been disabled.
The most recent post on DBDT’s account shows an audition notice for Aug. 17 seeking “dancers with superior training in Modern and Classical techniques.”
A statement jointly posted on Instagram by the American Guild of Musical Artists and an account run by DBDT dancers responded to the company’s actions: “AGMA is aware that Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) leadership just terminated all their dancers, and we are appalled. This abrupt and shocking development is the latest in a series of actions the Company has taken since the dancers voted unanimously to unionize.”
All of it comes after AGMA filed unfair labor practice charges last weekend against DBDT, Dallas’ oldest continuously operating professional dance company.
AGMA says there are multiple issues cited, including unilateral changes to employee benefits, a retaliatory discharge, the refusal to hire for teaching positions and restrictive employee policies.
“The filing of these ULPs [unfair labor practices] is a crucial step in holding DBDT accountable for their punitive reaction to their dancers’ unionization and ensuring that the rights of the dancers are protected,” said Griff Braun, AGMA’s national organizing director, in a statement.
DBDT did not respond to a request for comment regarding the filing of the charges.
DBDT dancers notified leadership April 30 they planned to unionize. DBDT did not voluntarily recognize the union. This led dancers to seek recognition through a National Labor Relations Board election. They unanimously voted to unionize on May 29.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
