CLEVELAND — Amid an investigation into "serious workplace allegations," the Cleveland Ballet Board of Directors has announced the resignation of its president and CEO Michael Krasnyansky, effective immediately.
As 3News' Stephanie Haney reported last week, part of the controversy revolves around a Stark County dance instructor being told her teaching contract with the School of Cleveland Ballet would not be renewed because of her body size, amid other allegations.
3News' investigation into the incident led to the suspension of Krasnyansky and his wife, Cleveland Ballet Artistic Director Gladisa Guadalupe.
"The Board remains determined that Cleveland Ballet will be known not just for its growing artistic beauty, but as a model for how it treats, supports, and encourages its dancers and staff," Cleveland Ballet Board Chairman Michael Frank wrote in a statement to Haney.
Ballet instructor Brittani Harris was hired this summer to teach ballet to kids with the Girls and Boys Club of Akron. On Aug. 1, Guadalupe saw a photo of Harris teaching the tendu movement that was included in the school's outreach newsletter.
“[Gladisa] told me that she could not release the newsletter I had been working on, that the mockup was no good. She simply said, ‘the tendu picture,’ and I knew what she was gunning for at that point,” said Jim Becker, then the outreach director for the School of Cleveland Ballet. “I even asked the Artistic Director, ‘It seems like you're insinuating that someone's size or body weight would somehow be able to disqualify them,’ and before I could even finish my sentence, she's just nodding. I was told that this fine teacher did not have the physical aesthetic required to teach tendu and pliés to the Boys and Girls Club children.”
Becker told 3News that Guadalupe’s comments in the Aug. 1 meeting extended beyond discussing Harris’s body, to the point of considering the impact her presence might have on children involved with the Cleveland Ballet.
“Cleveland Ballet’s Gladisa Guadalupe said something very closely to the effect, if not precisely, ‘That we cannot allow a teacher like this to work for us, because little girls will see that and think that is OK,’” Becker recalled. “She said something to the effect of, 'Young girls who are of grander size are at greater risk of injury,' and if anybody tells you that, find a different dance studio.”
On Oct. 31, Haney reached out to Guadalupe, Krasnyansky, and the board of the Cleveland Ballet to respond to the allegations. On Nov. 14, the board told Haney they suspended both Guadalupe and Krasnyansky pending the results of their investigations.
The board says Howard Bender will continue in the role of Interim President and CEO and Cynthia Graham will continue in the role of Interim Artistic Director.
The Board adds that it is committed to “fix anything that emerges from the independent investigation that diminishes our unwavering commitment to maintain a safe, productive, diverse, inclusive, professional, collegial, and secure work environment for all our artists and staff.”
Harris is now teaching again with the Artful Living and Learning Program in Stark County.