Cleveland Ballet has severed ties with its co-founder, Gladisa Guadalupe, after an investigation into the dance company’s internal culture. A release Wednesday night said her role as artistic director would be filled by Timour Bourtasenkov, who oversaw last month’s production of “The Nutcracker” on an interim basis.
The move follows several months of turmoil at the Bedford-based company. Guadalupe and her husband and co-founder, CEO Michael Krasnyansky, were suspended in November pending the investigation into what the Cleveland Ballet board then termed “serious workplace allegations.”
The board now has the results of that investigation, saying the couple engaged in nepotistic hiring and also dismissed or penalized dancers suspected of speaking with the media or cooperating with the investigation. The release also states that there are “credible accusations” of sexual misconduct, such as improper touching, from 16 dancers against Krasnyansky. He resigned a week after being suspended, replaced first with interim CEO Howard Bender. Board member Larry Goodman now takes the helm.
On Wednesday night, Guadalupe said she could not comment because she had not yet seen the release. Her husband sent a statement:
“I want to unequivocally state that these and other allegations about me and my fellow Cleveland Ballet co-founder Gladisa Guadalupe are entirely without merit. We have always been committed to fostering a safe and respectful environment within the organization we’ve built back from ground up. We have spent nine years of blood, sweat, tears, and a great deal of our own funds to bring the city of Cleveland back to world class ballet.
I recently became aware of the information you received, which originated from the Cleveland Ballet board. It is important to note that I have not been provided with the report of the investigation, and I am genuinely surprised and disappointed that such serious allegations have been made without affording me the opportunity to properly respond. While I have resigned from my position, I remain committed to truth and justice.”
The couple debuted the current iteration of Cleveland Ballet in October 2015 at Playhouse Square and became a resident company in 2017. Separately, Guadalupe founded what’s now known as the School of Cleveland Ballet in 2000. The Wednesday release states dance company funds were commingled with those of Guadalupe’s school, and that she obstructed attempts at a forensic audit. Instructors at the school with ties to Cleveland Ballet were also recently terminated, and Cleveland Ballet announced it would open its own school, the Academy of Cleveland Ballet.
‘The Nutcracker’
Cleveland Ballet’s signature event, “The Nutcracker,” was in rehearsals as the investigation began in November. Guadalupe and Krasnyansky were soon accused of body shaming by a now-former instructor, but the Wednesday statement said they were suspended for “overt and deliberate interference” in the investigation.
Cynthia Graham stepped in as interim artistic director and departed just as the production debuted at Playhouse Square. At the same time, Dennis Nahat said he was “surprised” at seeing his dance moves in video of the current production. He was choreographer for the previous incarnation of Cleveland Ballet, which closed in 2000. Guadalupe and Graham were among his dancers.
Last month, he said he was never contacted about using his moves, which are copyrighted.
“Never once did I get a call from them, including board members who are responsible because they have to know what they're putting on the stage,” he said. “If they don't know… and can say to the public that, ‘We have to get expertise to know what we're looking at,’ then they don't belong on that board because they don't know what they're doing.”
A Cleveland Ballet spokesperson acknowledged the allegations and said they’re being investigated, but added that it’s a complex issue “on which reasonable minds could differ. Gladisa Guadalupe and Cynthia Graham have expressly and repeatedly denied any plagiarism…” Nahat said he is not planning any legal action over the issue.
The first incarnation of Cleveland Ballet lasted from 1935-1942. The second incarnation ran from 1972-2000, after which Nahat and much of the creative team moved to San Jose.
Guadalupe, a native of Puerto Rico, studied under George Balanchine at the School of American Ballet in New York City. She was honored with the Cleveland Arts Prize in 2022.
A petition was started last month asking for her reinstatement. The organizer, Svetlana Stolyarova, said she’s known the company’s founders since 2011. She called the allegations “nonsense” and said if Guadalupe were not reinstated, it would lead to a “loss of vision.”
“I hope that the board has some ideas of finding some brilliant choreographer as an artistic director or something like this,” she said. “It looks like a big threat… another attempt to kill the ballet company in Cleveland. We already lost two, right?”
Cleveland Ballet was slated to receive a 77% increase in financial support from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. Instead, CAC voted in November to delay the $73,954 in funding until the investigation is resolved.
