Dancers, Ballet Out of Step in Pas de Deux

By Sarah Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 22, 2005

A week has gone by since the Washington Ballet began canceling "Nutcracker" performances, a move that ultimately led to scratching all the remaining shows. What is being called the "nuclear option" -- shutting down the profitable "Nutcracker" -- has led only to further conflict and confusion.

The dispute over whether the dancers had declared a strike last week (management's view) or were locked out by management (as the dancers claim) has been given a new twist. For the past two days, when the dancers have shown up for their previously scheduled rehearsals, they have been turned away by Artistic Director Septime Webre.

The Washington Ballet is the city's oldest and best-known dance group. Webre, brought in seven years ago to bring new life to the ballet, has had some success, but this month's labor dispute has threatened to undo that.

Money is not the primary issue. The thorny questions involve how much control Webre should have. Can he hire and fire without restrictions? Can he change the size of the company? Should there be limits on how he conducts rehearsals to prevent injuries? Can he cast students from the Washington School of Ballet in productions anytime he likes?

On Tuesday, Webre seemed happy to see the dancers, but he said he was not prepared for them even though the rehearsal had long been scheduled, according to dancer Luis Torres. There was confusion over whether there would be rehearsals Wednesday.

When the dancers arrived Wednesday at the ballet's studio on Wisconsin Avenue, Webre read to them from a letter Executive Director Jason Palmquist had sent to the union last Friday. The letter stated, in part, "We will advise you as to what if any rehearsal obligations the dancers will be expected to fulfill in light of the consequences of the now-canceled 'Nutcracker' run."

Regardless of the scheduling confusion, that letter, Webre said, effectively canceled rehearsals until January. After reading the letter, Webre told the dancers it was a "very heartbreaking situation," Torres said. But the dancers left feeling confused.

"I really don't understand what they're trying to do, because it makes no sense to me," Torres said. "It almost felt rehearsed. When someone asks a question you don't expect them to hand you a letter. It was a different mood than the day before, when he was excited to see that we wanted to rehearse. It was like Jason was calling the shots."

"I was certainly glad to see them," Webre said Wednesday night, "but it surprised me that they were there because rehearsals had been canceled."

Webre added that he hopes to resume rehearsals on Jan. 3 "so that we can get back to the business of making art."

For union officials, the scrapped rehearsals are one more symptom of deeper communication problems. "We're not on strike. We're doing business as normal," said Eleni Kallas, local representative of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the dancers union. "Our dancers have fulfilled every job obligation that has not been canceled. The ballet has been in denial from Day One, in denial that they have a problem, in denial that they need to change and in denial now that they have locked us out."

Ballet officials say they will resume contract talks with AGMA in January. Until then, they will be trying to figure out how much money they lost by dropping the last 10 days of "The Nutcracker's" three-week run. The Christmas "Nutcracker" accounts for more than half the troupe's annual revenue. Roughly $780,000 will be refunded to ticket holders.

Some money was saved by shutting down, however. AGMA reports that dancers lost about $35,000 in pay. Kallas says the musicians and stagehands both lost more. She estimates that the ballet's total savings on salaries are more than $180,000.

The struggle has created a lot of bad feelings. Ticket holders have been left wondering how to make it up to disappointed children who were looking forward to the holiday performances. Sad stories abound of relatives traveling great distances -- even flying in from overseas -- to see beloved little ones onstage with the pros, only to have their expectations dashed.

But in the long term, observers say, the biggest losers may be the dancers themselves. They have already lost paychecks, although management has said they will be paid for 12 hours of rehearsal time last week. AGMA reports that calls have been coming in from around the country from people seeking to donate to the relief fund it has set up in its New York headquarters for the dancers. The union, which has not yet been collecting dues from the dancers because it has no contract, does not have a strike fund.

For the past month and a half, the dancers have been trying to reach an agreement with management. It would be the first union contract in Washington Ballet's decades-long history. Both sides say this initial contract is hugely important, as it will serve as a blueprint for years to come. Last week, in hopes of speeding the process, the dancers tried to force a decision on an "interim" three-year agreement that would have guaranteed them concessions on some safety and job-security measures. The move backfired when management refused the dancers' demands and put forth its own agreement. When the dancers rejected that, management closed down the show.

What happens now?

The dancers have only one card to play to reach an agreement, according to Gregory Drone, union representative for the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Drone says the ballet fiasco reminds him of the 1991 labor dispute between the orchestra and the Washington Opera. The issues were similar, said Drone: minimum size of the orchestra and hours per week of rehearsal. To make their points clear, the musicians met with a few key board members.

"We educated them about what this was all about," Drone said. "We made it clear that what we were asking for was not unreasonable. . . . Then the board members took control of the negotiations and we settled with them."

Ultimately, he said, what had been a stressful and depressing situation resulted in a rise in stature for the opera. It "led to a lot of soul-searching among the board members about what kind of company they're going to have," Drone said. "Instead of trying to squeeze everybody to do everything with the least resources, there was a feeling of 'We're going to go first class.' "

Drone says the Washington Ballet is at a similar crossroads. "Some board members have to make a decision: Are they going to stand by and watch the company be destroyed by this or are they going to intervene and save the company and go forward?"

George Washington University labor law professor Charles Craver says the collective bargaining process is essentially a power struggle: "Most employers in this country do not like sharing power. And this is a business of people who are not used to being told anything by the people who work for them." An employer can easily drag out the process, "patiently going through the motions until [the union] is gone." Nothing in the National Labor Relations Act says the parties have to reach an agreement, Craver said. If bargaining continues to drag on without a resolution, the union may have to "cave in and accept the terms."

Giving up is not an option, says AGMA Executive Director Alan Gordon. "I assume that after a period of time the dancers will get fed up and say if the company wants to destroy their lives, they'll destroy the company," he said. "That's the leverage."

Torres has a personal stake in the crucial issues, particularly in the area of workplace safety. Injured during preparations for last year's "Nutcracker," Torres underwent hip surgery in February. An agreement with the dancers that protects them from overwork will only improve the Washington Ballet's reputation, he said.

"What we want is to create a professional company that has high standards," said Torres, "that can compare to any well-known company in the United States, just on a smaller budget scale. Why would you not want to do that? Knowing what is right and not doing it is avoiding the evolution of the organization."

Though the dancers and management have had little recent success communicating, they would seem to be in agreement on wanting to move beyond the current impasse. Said the ballet's Palmquist: "I hope that once we are past this episode that we can look back and say that it was really horrible that [the cancellation] happened, but we are moving on together."