Fired at 37 Weeks Pregnant
How can you birth art in a culture of fear?
Many dancers cannot speak out for fear of reprisal or job loss, but having left the ballet world, I can use my voice to better its culture. I am a professional performer building a richly creative life from my ballet beginnings. Although I am no stranger to the bad practices in the ballet world along with all the beauty, I was shocked to learn of an injustice at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle.
In a progressive city full of culture and forward-thinking startups, it is appalling to learn that a dancer was fired while 37 weeks pregnant. A soloist who danced with the company for 14 years, a lifetime in the short-lived dance world, was not given the opportunity to finish her career much past her maternity leave. She was informed of non-reengagement in October, gave birth in November, and her contract ended in June. She advocated for just one more renewal. She was denied the chance for her body to heal and rebound to return to a final post-COVID season on stage. Her story is not mine to tell, but knowing even some of the specifics surrounding her dismissal raises major ethical questions.
It may be legal, but it is wrong. It is legal for PNB to withhold a contract from a pregnant woman, due to loopholes alleging pregnancy is not the main reason for non-reengagement. It is unsettling to support an institution with little regard for its female employees’ health and well-being, even as PNB’s own website states to “Expect transparency, honesty, and a commitment to discussing and addressing the systemic issues we face and seek to change”. An institution claiming to reflect community values must take a long, hard look at itself when it denies women reproductive choice and body agency.
Women should not have to choose between family and career. Dancers often work in a state of fear and with a scarcity mentality; they retain their union jobs not on set protocols, but at the subjectivity and discretion of the director. A ballet company is not a private corporation, but is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, funded by public money as well as private philanthropy. Such charitable institutions should not be allowed to discriminate against women when the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) protects current, past, and potential pregnant workers from job loss. Many other companies see the wisdom in retaining talent, and audiences happily enjoy the deep artistry of returning parents.
For one of the top ballet companies in the United States, PNB’s firing practice comes off as underhanded. Similarly prestigious ballet companies worldwide protect and support their dancing parents, as it is federally mandated. It is disheartening that a male leader, who had the courage to speak out about Peter Martins’ abusive conduct at NYCB, cannot understand the negative messaging to other potential mothers in the company, and the larger arts world. Nothing could be less progressive in an institution than casting aside a worker during their transition into parenthood, when employment and insurance are vital. Good leadership demands treating each worker as a multifaceted person, not as a disruption or inconvenience. Great leadership is the ability to accept mistakes and offer a fresh, new course of action. I encourage you to reach out directly to PNB here and use your voice across their social platforms. I hope that the leadership and Board will rethink firing practices for the future, and to bring it in line with cultural institution standards, at the bare minimum.
I believe in the power, beauty, and importance of dance. I encourage students to use dance to build community, engender empathy, and connect to themselves. Aspiring young dancers deserve to dance in an industry of equity and inclusion; one that reflects and respects a diversity of experiences, including motherhood.
Art grows richer when it is allowed to evolve free of fear. Every parent I know expresses that parenthood fundamentally changes them. Why shouldn’t ballet companies change too?
Make space for moms. Give them support. Rebirth ballet.
