DALLAS — In 105 degree heat, Dallas Black Dance Theatre performers and 200 of their supporters turned out for a spirited rally and picket in front of One Arts Plaza here Aug. 17. After the dancers voted to join the American Guild of Musical Artists union in May, the company fired them and was holding auditions to replace them inside.
“This is an experience of union busting,” Griff Braun, national organizing director of the union, told the rally. “We are here today to let the Dallas Black Dance Theatre know that what they are doing is wrong.”
“No Screen Actors Guild, no AGMA and no other unions will work for the Dallas Black Dance Theatre,” Kim Titus from Actors’ Equity, the union that represents actors and stage managers, told the rally. “We stand with you.”
“We are here for justice,” Elijah Lancaster, an AGMA member and fired dancer at the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, told the Militant, “and for a better destiny for others.”
Several city officials spoke in solidarity with the fired union members.
Antuan Byers, vice president of the union, said, “These dancers have the right to organize, especially in Texas, which is a right-to-work state. Byers added that he is a former student at the Dallas Black Dance Theatre.
Other speakers at the rally included Louis Luckhardt, secretary-treasurer of the Dallas AFL-CIO; Stewart Williams, president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Professional Musicians Association; several fired dancers; and an actress from the Screen Actors Guild.