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Alexandra Waterbury and Chase Finlay at the New York City Ballet 2018 Spring Gala at the David H. Koch Theater at the Lincoln Center on May 3rd. (Owen Hoffmann / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
The headlines have been grim since New York City Ballet was sued with a 40-page trial by a former student of the dance, which resulted in the release of three major dancers.
"It's the Swine Lake at the NYC Ballet / # MeTutu! I've been sexually exploited by abusive fraternity dancers, "exclaimed the New York Post.
"Dance of the Deviants," cracked the New York Daily News, as well as "Sick swaps by the Baryshnikovs lowlife."
Alexandra Waterbury, a former 20-year-old student at the NYCB School of American Ballet, is suing NYCB and her ex-boyfriend, Chase Finlay, who until recently was one of the company's main dancers. Finlay, 28, resigned at the end of August. On Saturday, NYCB announced the dismissal of two other dancers named in the trial: Amar Ramasar, 36, and Zachary Catazaro, 29.
NYCB Executive Director Katherine Brown and Acting Artistic Team Leader Jonathan Stafford said, "We have no greater obligation than to ensure that our dancers and their staff feel respected and valued. all employees of the New York City Ballet. We will not allow the private actions of a few to undermine the hard work and strength of character shown by other members of our community or the excellence for which society is present.
Ramasar, one of the company's most popular stars, and Catazaro had only been suspended in 2019. In its statement on Saturday, the NYCB had also announced its intention to fire Finlay before receiving his resignation. (Finlay's attorney, Ira Kleiman, told ABC 7 in New York that the lawsuit "should not be considered a fact").
"I am deeply shocked and deeply saddened by the New York City Ballet's decision to fire me. . . . I am an honest and honorable person and I have always treated everyone, including my colleagues, my staff, my friends and other people in NYCB, with the utmost respect, "said Ramasar on Instagram.
"I did not initiate, was not involved in, or associated with any personal material of Alexandra Waterbury that would have been shared with others", Catazaro written on Instagram and Twitter. He added that he was "initially suspended for other private and personal communications".
Waterbury's lawsuits refer to the three dancers on detailed charges, including the sharing of sexually explicit images and videos of ignorant dancers, rude and brutal text messages about them, and various Asian activities.
[Read the full complaint here]
Now the question is: When will the hearings, board members and other supporters demand answers and solutions to the series of scandals that are going on in the biggest ballet company in the country? (The NYCB budget is $ 88.8 million and was $ 225 million in July.)
Next fall, at Lincoln Center in New York City, the public must decide whether buying a ballet ticket means checking their conscience at the door. This is because the Waterbury trial goes beyond blaming specific dancers – this blames the entire institution.
"For many years," says the complaint, NYCB "encouraged and allowed its dancers to abuse, assault, degrade, belittle, dehumanize and abuse their dancers and other women."
This accusation against a powerful, historic and globally recognized US cultural ambassador needs to be thoroughly and thoroughly investigated by members of the board of directors and other funders, including stakeholders. such as New York.
You get an image of a singularly unhealthy environment when you put Waterbury's accusations alongside the arrest and darkened departure of NYCB's long-time director Peter Martins, who resigned in January in the middle of the year. Charges of violence and sexual harassment. Washington Post and The New York Times.
"These allegations against me, incidents that would have occurred decades ago, are misleading and completely false," said Mr. Martins at the time. "To denounce an obscene or unprofessional conduct on my part is reprehensible, and I vehemently deny these allegations."
The NYCB and its school were further criticized for the way they handled the complaints – jointly commissioning an investigation that yielded a mixed message: the allegations could not be corroborated, but policies were developed to better protect the dancers. Given the legal action, it appears that the measures were not enough to stop the bad behavior.
[New York City Ballet leader to take leave amid sexual, violence allegations]
A statement about the three dancers of NYCB President Charles W. Scharf acknowledged that men had flouted "standards of conduct."
"The New York City Ballet believes that the behavior of the three dancers named in the lawsuit is heinous and totally unacceptable," said Scharf. "Once the NYCB was informed of the allegations, we immediately investigated and found that the actions violated the company's standards of conduct and that disciplinary action was taken against the dancers involved.
Returning the dancers is not the same as fixing, thoughtfully and in the long run, which seems to be deep problems at City Ballet. The Waterbury trial puts its claims in the context of the ballet environment and its history. And it's not hard to see the connections – and the need for a redesign. Martins had trouble with the law dating back to 1992, when he was arrested and charged with assaulting his wife, ballerina Darci Kistler. The charges were later dropped.
Peter Martins and his wife, Darci Kistler, at the 2017 New York City Ballet Spring Gala. (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images)
[[[[The turmoil continues even after the resignation of the New York City Ballet leader]
Here's what NYCB has to do next.
1. Examine it yourself and admit that there is a problem.
The institution must ensure that power is not abused and that all dancers and students are empowered and supported if they have problems, including the youngest and most vulnerable .
Michael Kaiser, president of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland and former president of the Kennedy Center, "can not just say, 'We did an investigation and we're fine.' "The way we approach these issues is changing. We can not simply ignore it. They need to say, "How can we study ourselves and see what is wrong with our culture, and make ourselves open, aware and reflective?"
2. Start by replacing board members and staff too closely related to the old – to Martins.
"As an intendant of an institution like this, we would like to know whether or not there has been systemic behavior based on a culture of permissiveness," says DeVos Institute President Brett Egan.
The members of the board of directors allied with Martins can be caught in a conflict over this question of permissiveness. Vice President Robert I. Lipp, for example, joined the NYCB Board of Directors in 1984, the year George Balanchine died, and Martin took over with choreographer Jerome Robbins. (Martins took the leadership in 1990.) Last December, after Martins had taken leave of the dancers' accusations against him, Lipp said he was in agreement with the status quo. The New York Times quoted him as saying to the dancers that he hoped Martins could soon "come back and continue in his usual role".
3. Define clear policies and sanctions and apply them with undeniable fairness.
NYCB has moved slowly every step of this nightmarish year. Did he do this out of respect for those who claim to have been victimized? Or to protect his stars?
"This moment in our society, long overdue, must look in the cold light at which power gives the benefit of the doubt," says Egan, "and what steps are being taken or not, according to that balance. These are vital issues of justice.
4. Set standards of behavior for both the exterior and the interior of the studio. Wearing with pride – the idea of representing – seems to be an ideal ideal for NYCB. It will take a self-disciplined leader to give the example. Each figure of authority on the staff must be a model.
Balanchine himself was not without controversy; he was looking for ballerinas. However, the demands that he had imposed on himself as an artist and as a public figure, he also placed on his dancers.
"We learned that we not only represent the organization, but that we represent New York," said Wilhelmina Frankfurt, who danced with the company before Martins took over. "We were expected to behave with class and dignity."
Martins closed the door to several of the ballet stars of the Balanchine generation; he did not bring them to teach and train his dancers. These artists – Suzanne Farrell, Stephanie Saland, Edward Villella and so many others – should be welcomed as part of NYCB, as mentors and linkers to the grandeur that a mocking institution linked to a "Dance of Deviants "no longer possesses.
"These men," says Frankfurt, speaking of Finlay, Ramasar, and Catazaro, "had no example."
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