Going Toe-to-Toe

"The dancers are getting older and don't want to live paycheck to paycheck," says dancer Erin Mahoney. "We've grown. People are starting to think of their own future. In the U.S., people automatically think 'artist' translates to suffering, starving, broke. Why should it be that way?"

Star Witnesses

In early December the dancers contacted AGMA, which represents the Washington National Opera, the New York City Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, among others. A petition authorizing the union to represent the Washington Ballet dancers was signed by all but one, who was hospitalized at the time, Parish says.

During a January proceeding at the regional office of the NLRB, the question arose of whether apprentices -- younger, trainee dancers -- would be part of the union. Both Parish and a new hire named Brian Corman had been apprentices at other AGMA-represented companies. That's why AGMA called them both to the stand.

Their testimony, says AGMA representative Eleni Kallas, was "absolutely factual." Neither she nor the dancers would comment further about what was said.

After the proceeding, Parish says, "some of the dancers said, 'Oh, you should've seen Septime's face when you got up to testify.' " She never found out if it was her words or the mere fact that she was testifying at all that caused her boss to turn, as she says others told her, "all different shades of white."

Two weeks later, the NLRB ordered the ballet to hold an election among the full company members and the apprentices, and on Feb. 14, the dancers voted to allow AGMA to represent them. One dancer, who AGMA officials say had wanted to get out of the company, had already left by this time. All the others had their contracts renewed for another year.

Except for Parish and Corman.

The Flawed Pirouette

Corman, 24, a Washington native, had come to the Washington Ballet after dancing with the Houston Ballet and other troupes. He danced leading roles here from the outset. The acclaimed choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, whose ballet "There Where She Loved" was performed in February, picked Corman to dance the starring male role in the first cast.

Webre put off Corman's contract meeting for weeks. Parish, too, had to wait longer than the others to meet with Webre. When they finally met, Parish says, Webre told her he had concerns about her technique, and when she pressed him for specifics, he cited an instance in the ballet "Coppelia" -- which the company performed in her first season -- when she did not pull off a turn from a kneeling position the way he had wanted. "I said, 'Were there any other ones?' and he said, 'No.' "

Parish says Webre told her he had made up his mind not to rehire her but that, after sitting down with her, he now wasn't quite so sure he wanted her gone. He told her he would sleep on it, she says, and call her in the morning.

The next morning, she says, he called to say her contract would not be renewed.

Parish was devastated. "I really felt that I had started to carve out a niche with Washington Ballet, like this is finally where I fit in," she says. "And to be told that, based on the fact that you don't do a pirouette from the knee like I want you to, I'm not going to rehire you, it was quite a blow."