A Dallas City Council committee recommended a temporary pause on funding to Dallas Black Dance Theatre due to concerns about the company’s firing of all dancers, The Dallas Morning News reported on Monday, 21 October 2024.
“The recommendation came during a meeting of the Dallas City Council’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee on Monday. The committee voted 5-2 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,” The Dallas Morning news said.
“Dallas City Council will vote on whether to withhold funds for the dance company on Wednesday, when they also vote on allocations for the other arts groups,” the newspaper said.
Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) comprises of the main company and junior company DBDT:Encore! . DBDT employed ten dancers for the main company ahead of the start of the 2024-2025 season.
In July, rehearsal director and main company dancer Sean J. Smith was fired by the company, according to KERA News.
In August, the company management fired the entire main company of nine dancers over an Instagram movie clip, which dancers posted on their own independent account in June.
DBDT claims the movie clip violated the company policy. Dancers say that the clip is harmless, and that the main reason for the firing is their decision to unuinise in May.
Currently, the dancers page (https://dbdt.com/dancer-bios/ ) of the DBDT website cannot be found.