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The New York City Ballet fired two senior dancers on Saturday morning, named in a lawsuit in which a woman accused a third dancer of inappropriately sharing sexually explicit photographs.
City Ballet said it acted after assessing the conduct of the dancers and its impact on society.
The company fired Amar Ramasar, one of its brightest stars, and Zachary Catazaro after being involved in a photo-sharing scandal that rocked City Ballet and created a significant gap in his team just before the start of autumn.
Third dancer Chase Finlay resigned last month. In the lawsuit, he was accused of sending explicit photos and videos of Alexandra Waterbury, a young woman he was dating, to his friends without his consent, and asking others to return explicit photos. The episode has now forced three of the 14 leading male dancers from this tightly knit company.
The upheaval has added more torment to City Ballet in a year that began with Peter Martins, his longtime ballet master, abruptly withdrew under pressure after the company began investigating the allegations of physical and sexual abuse that had been brought against him. The company later stated that it did not corroborate the charges, which Mr. Martins denied.
Last month, City Ballet decided to suspend without pay Mr. Ramasar and Mr. Catazaro next year. The company had investigated the allegations against them and determined that they had "made inappropriate communications, while personal, off-hours and off-site, had violated the standards of conduct," he hoped dancers.
The company said in a statement on Saturday that after hearing the concerns of the dancers, staff members and others from the city's ballet community, it decided to fire Mr. Ramasar and Mr. Catazaro. (The statement also indicated that the company had already made the decision to dismiss Mr. Finlay when he resigned.)
The two dancers issued statements in which they expressed their sorrow and called their dismissals rushed to judgment of the company. The dancers' union, the American Guild of Musical Artists, said it was considering challenging the layoffs, which it said "were entirely related to non-work-related activities and did not reach the level of justified dismissal." ".
Mr. Ramasar testified that he was disciplined for "engaging in non-professional activities between consenting adults" without understanding all the facts. "The ballet has already suspended me," he said, "but now, because of pressure from a lawsuit against him (but not me), he has expelled me to appease people who do not know what has really happened. In the coming days, I will tell my story.
Mr. Catazaro stated that he had not played any role in sharing "Alexandra Waterbury's personal material". He stated that the private communications in which he participated had occurred during working hours and that "the intention was not to harm anyone. "
The dismissals of Mr. Ramasar and Mr. Catazaro were announced during the company's morning classes at the Lincoln Center Rose Building, where City Ballet is preparing for its fall season, scheduled to begin Tuesday.
"We have no greater obligation than to ensure that our dancers and staff have a workplace where they feel respected and valued and we are committed to providing this environment to all New York City Ballet employees. Said Katherine Brown, CEO of the company. and the head of his interim art team, Jonathan Stafford, said in a joint statement.
"We will not allow the private actions of a few to compromise the hard work and strength of character shown by other members of our community or the excellence for which the company is present," he said. they declared.
The allegations were detailed earlier this month in a lawsuit filed by 20-year-old Waterbury, who was trained for several years at the US Ballet School, the City Ballet-affiliated academy. The lawsuit was directed against Mr. Finlay, with whom she had left, and the ballet company, which she accused of tolerating an "atmosphere of brotherhood". The company denied having tolerated such behavior, noting that it had investigated the allegations as soon as possible. he learned them this summer and penalized the dancers.
In the case, filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court, Ms. Waterbury accused Mr. Finlay of sending nude photos of her to Mr. Ramasar and stated that Mr. Ramasar had sent back a image of a female member of the ballet. The prosecution accused Mr. Catazaro of exchanging images with Mr. Finlay, but did not say what.
Mr. Ramasar, a director since 2009, was one of the company's leaders. Born in the Bronx, It has established itself as one of the most dynamic and charismatic presences of City Ballet in Balanchine's core repertoire and, most importantly, in new works. This year, he appeared in the role of Jigger Craigin in the resumption of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" at the Imperial Theater in what Ben Brantley described in the New York Times as "an electric debut on Broadway". , became a principal dancer in October.
Ms. Waterbury's suit indicated that nude photos of other dancers were also shared, and described obscene and misogynistic language in certain texts she discovered on Mr. Finlay's computer. The lawsuit stated that one donor had written to Mr. Finlay about his desire to "rape" the dancers of another company and added, "I bet we could attach some and abuse them. like farm animals. answered "or like the sluts they are".
Rob Daniels, a spokesman for City Ballet, said the company had identified the donor as a former member of the company's Young Patrons Circle who had made modest contributions totaling about $ 12,000 from 2010 to 2016. He The company's dancers, City Ballet, would donate this amount to a local charity specializing in women's issues.
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