Dallas City Council on Wednesday paused funding to Dallas Black Dance Theatre over concerns about the firing of dancers earlier this year.
Council members decided to approve a recommendation from the Dallas City Council’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee. The committee voted 5-2 on Monday to approve allocations to 55 Dallas-based nonprofit arts groups, but decided to temporarily withhold roughly $248,000 to the dance company for 2024-25.
Earlier this year, ten main-company dancers were fired and have been replaced. The company cites a social media video as the reason for the firings. But the American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents the fired dancers, says the firings happened because of union efforts. The dancers had unanimously voted to unionize in May to demand better working conditions.
Before the city council voted on the motion, local labor advocates, fired dancers and a union organizer with the American Guild of Musical Artists – which represents the former dancers – urged members to withhold the funding.
Terrell Rogers Jr., one of the fired dancers, told city council the artists decided to form the union to have a voice in their workplace.
Rogers said dancers faced “the lack of a living wage, substandard and dangerous work conditions and an extreme command and control-style management that has led to instability both within our ranks, the administrative staff and the many artistic directors who have come and gone in the last few years.”
Georgia Scaife, Dallas Black Dance's board president, denied union busting allegations against the company. She said during the meeting that the organization is prepared to bargain with AGMA.
“We want to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement because that would be a definitive way for everybody to know how to perform, how they should conduct themselves. If AGMA has any issues with our handbook or policies, those will be addressed at that time,” she said.
The Inspector General Division of the City Attorney’s Office recently released a 348-page report investigating the firing of dancers earlier this year. The report includes a timeline of events surrounding the firings, as well as evidence including termination letters, the dance company’s handbook and interviews with fired dancers, union representatives and Scaife.
For over an hour, council members discussed whether to withhold the funding. On Wednesday, some expressed concerns about how the decision would affect the dance company, given its important history.
Dallas Black Dance Theatre founder Ann Williams launched the company in 1976 nearly a decade after the Civil Rights Movement ended. It marked a time when dance was an exclusionary space for Black performers given the ongoing scrutiny of and discrimination against Black communities.
Council member Zarin D. Gracey said he empathized with the dancers but was concerned about how the withholding of funds could impact the dance company’s legacy as a Black institution.
“From a labor perspective and all of that, [this] is an egregious one. I'm not going to deny that at all,” he said. “I don't want this instant to impact years of impact that the Dallas Black Dance Theatre has had in the community.”
Other council members expressed staunch support for withholding the funds. Council Member Adam Bazaldua said while he respects the dance company’s legacy, the city needs to hold institutions accountable.
“We do not have sacred cows in this city,” he said. “We stand for something as a city of Dallas. If the partners and uses of tax dollars are not going to adhere or align themselves to the priorities of our city, we should absolutely take action that reflects that.”
The National Labor Relations Board is reviewing unfair labor practice charges that the union filed against the dance company in June and August. In September, the dance company filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union.
Council member Gay Donnell Willis spoke directly to Scaife in the meeting, saying that the council will be awaiting a decision by the National Labor Relations Board. But Willis said she wants to see action from the dance company.
“There’s nothing stopping your board of directors from doing a deep dive into our practices, wages and showing this council that we are taking this seriously and are hearing the concerns that have been raised by this community,” she said.
A committee under the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission will meet on Nov. 7 to reconsider the funding allocation to the dance company in light of the firing of dancers. The Quality of Life, Arts and Culture committee will meet on Dec. 3 to discuss the advisory group’s feedback. The recommendation would then go to a vote in the next Dallas City Council meeting.
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.
