Dallas Black Dance Theater recently announced it was clearing house after it said its dancers violated their contracts, but the now-terminated employees say it’s a move that came after they decided to unionize. NBC 5’s Allie Spillyards has the story.
It’s the oldest, continuously operating professional dance company in Dallas. And come Saturday, Dallas Black Dance Theatre will look to fully replenish its ranks.
Over the weekend, the company announced via Instagram that it “made the difficult decision to terminate Main Company dancers after a video surfaced that violated their contractual terms and our standards of artistic excellence.”
“We were just really confused,” said Derick McKoy.
Mckoy was headed into his third season.
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He said he and his coworkers received nearly identical letters via email Friday notifying them of their termination.
“It told us that we violated company policy like cell phone usage in the studio. We were doing self-described shenanigans and there was vulgarity in the video,” he said.
The video was one posted to an Instagram account managed by the dancers.
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It’s set to the Family Matters theme song, and according to McKoy, was created to introduce the dancers to the public.
He said a similar one was shared by the company is 2022.
“It doesn’t make sense that they would say it’s just the video. It’s much bigger than that,” said McKoy.
“We feel that that’s a pretense, that these dancers were fired for wanting to have a voice in their workplace and forming a union to do that,” said National Organizing Director at the American Guild of Musical Artists Griff Braun.
Back in May, the company’s members voted to join AGMA.
DBDT leadership denies claims that any recent actions are acts of retaliation.
“We made a decision to release the dancers, which was based solely on a video that displayed conduct which violated our policies, and frankly, undermine our standards,” said DBDT Board President Georgia Scaife.
Scaife said that as DBDT moves ahead with auditions, it’s committed to working with the union and with the National Labor Relations Board after AGMA filed unfair labor charges on behalf of the dancers.
“We are more than happy to be able to provide any level of response and documentation to the NLRB so that they can have balance here what has happened, and then they will make a decision,” she said.
For now, the dispute drags on along with a race to fill the company, while dancers like McKoy figure out next steps.
“We’re all just kind of scrambling and trying to figure out, do I stay in Dallas? Do I leave? I’m personally doing that now, so just trying to pivot,” said McKoy.
Scaife also said DBDT is disappointed by the AGMA’s decision to issue a “do not work order,” which prevents the members of several unions from auditioning.
AGMA has organized a rally for the dancers and picket outside of the auditions in One Arts Plaza at 1 p.m.
In the past, NBC5 has been a sponsor of the DBDT.
