At the Latino Cultural Center on Wednesday night, Sean J. Smith tap danced across the stage with a bouncy lightness, glimmering in a sparkly black suit.
It was a fitting start to the show “Emergence” – a night of contemporary, tap, jazz and modern dancing – that felt both celebratory and symbolic. The night marked the first time in months dancers had performed on stage together since 10 of them were fired from Dallas Black Dance Theatre earlier this year and became entangled in a labor dispute.
Terrell Rogers Jr., one of the dancers and choreographers, said the show is a love letter to all of the people who have supported the dancers. He said the group of dancers – who organized, choreographed and danced the entire show – landed on the name “Emergence” from the iconoclast ‘60s American counterculture poet and artist Tuli Kupferberg who said, “When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.”
“The patterns needed to be interrupted in order for a new age to emerge, in order for a new era to emerge where dancers felt safe, where dancers felt heard, where dancers were compensated properly,” Rogers said.
This month, Dallas Black Dance Theatre agreed to a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board after being charged with dozens of unfair labor practices. Now, the dance company is required to pay the dancers over $560,000, write the dancers apology letters and train employees among other stipulations. The Dallas City Council also cut about $248,000 in funding to the dance company for next year.
Over the last few months, dancers have received over $33,000 through a GoFundMe to help with the income they lost during the labor dispute. Ticket sales and donations made from the “Emergence” shows will also support the dancers. However, dancers said the show is about celebrating community and returning to what started it all – dance.
Both sold-out nights of the show also reflect the wave of support dancers have received. Over 120 people attended the show on Wednesday night, including members of the dance community, labor organizers, art leaders and Dallas City Council members.
Kennedy Kennerson, 25, drove all the way from Richardson to see the show.
“I think people should come together, especially employees if they are experiencing hardships at work and feel like their voice isn’t heard. I definitely think unionization is an important part to make sure people get the benefits they deserve,” she said.
New York-based costume designer Erica Johnston volunteered to work on pieces for the show, gathering donated fabric scraps from other New York costume designers and spending over 100 hours on costumes.
Johnston is a former dancer and longtime collaborator with Derick McKoy Jr., one of the fired dancers who helped choreograph and organize the show. She said what’s happened at Dallas Black Dance Theatre has sent “ripple effects” across the dance industry.
“It’s the first time that I think on the national scene it has stayed in the conversation for so long,” she said. “I’m so glad to see the way that it has shaken out because I think that going forward, it does send a message to other artistic leadership that dancers are not disposable.”
In name, movement or meaning, many of the pieces on Wednesday night speak to the events of the last few months. In “Psychological Warfare: A Carte Blanche,” choreographed by former DBDT dancer Hana Delong, dancers flailed in straitjackets leading to an explosion of movement in the finale. The piece’s unleashed energy brought the audience to a rousing standing ovation.
Chitose Suzuki
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The Dallas Morning News
Gillian Clifford, one of the dancers who was fired from DBDT, said the piece reflects how “all of this chaos can be going around you, but the only person whose truth matters is yourself. You really have to pay attention to what you believe is right and not what other people are trying to persuade you or make you feel.”
Then, there were the billowing rolls and trickle of the piano in “When the Wind Blows” choreographed by Rogers. Dancers glided across the stage, swaying back and forth together like gusts of wind, a visual metaphor for the twists and turns of the last few months.
“You’re being moved in a different direction and sometimes it’s completely out of your control. When that happens, what do you do? When the wind blows, some people build walls and other people build windmills,” Rogers said.
The show wrapped with dancers gathered in a row looking off into the distance. While the dancers are unclear what’s next, the show is likely the last time the entire group will share a stage together.
“[The show] is not an ending, but just like a wrap-up of the situation and allows us to have a resolution and just step back from it all, but still leave something so beautiful and so impactful behind us as well,” Clifford said.
As part of the settlement agreement, none of the fired dancers decided to return to the dance company. They’ve officially changed their Instagram handle from @dancersofdbdt to @dancersdeservebetter as they venture into a new direction. Clifford said the dancers want to continue educating other artists about their rights as workers.
What does she want most for dancers? Consideration.
“Just to have somebody think about us like active workers and humans that need just as much safety and thought as anybody else.”
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