CLEVELAND — 3News Investigates has learned that a Stark County dance instructor was told her teaching contract with the School of Cleveland Ballet would not be renewed because of her body size, with our investigation leading to the suspension of the Cleveland Ballet’s Artistic Director and CEO, who are married.
Ballet instructor Brittani Harris had been teaching dance for more than a decade when she was hired this summer by Jim Becker — then the manager of the outreach program at the School of Cleveland Ballet — to teach ballet to kids with the Girls and Boys Club of Akron. Becker, an American Ballet Theatre-certified dance instructor and accomplished performer, was hired by the Cleveland Ballet's — Artistic Director Gladisa Guadalupe and President and CEO Michael Krasnyansky, who are also married.
“There's a lot that happens between the steps, and you could teach a class on how to run [her] class,” Becker told 3News Investigates, referring to what he described as Harris’s “Disney princess” style. “Watching Brittani Harris teach was much like watching ‘Story time with Belle,’ the program at Walt Disney World.”
Harris told 3News that nothing compares to the joy she gets from showing new dance movements to students.
“I love getting to teach students something new,” she said. “We can do pliés and tendus and easy things, but I love like seeing them get excited about learning something new.”
Harris’s excitement over the progress of her outreach program students was cut short when she learned on Aug. 3 that her teaching contract would not be renewed just one day before the performance her students had been working toward all summer. The events that led up to learning that news from Becker started at a School of Cleveland Ballet staff meeting on Aug. 1, where Guadalupe saw a photo of Harris teaching the tendu movement that was included in Becker’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,” Becker said. “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.”
Two days later, Becker wrote down what happened at the meeting and hand-delivered his account in a letter to Lilia Shtarkman in the Cleveland Ballet’s human resources department, but he never received a reply. He also tried but failed to meet with their HR consultant, Lana Krasnyansky Sokolinsky — who is Michael Krasnyansky’s daughter and Guadalupe’s step-daughter — before Becker was told his own contract would not be renewed as manager of the outreach program.
“I was obviously not able to work for a company that talked about their team that way,” Becker told 3News. “I immediately called Lana at HR and she dodged all my texts and calls. I think the whole team knew about Gladisa’s disapproval of the Brittani hire.”
Harris was devastated when she received Becker’s call, relaying what was said about her in the Aug. 1 staff meeting.
“It was very hard to hear because, you know, it's 2023, and maybe I'm not a prima ballerina, but I was never trying to be,” she said. “I love dance. I love to teach. I love children, and to have someone rip that away just because they didn't like how I looked. It's just not OK.”
The School of Cleveland Ballet is a nonprofit organization that explicitly states it doesn't discriminate against protected groups on its website, but as Civil Rights attorney Subodh Chandra explains, body size doesn't qualify for protection against employment discrimination.
“The most frustrating thing about our job is trying to explain to people that they have no protection in circumstances where the facts are so outrageous and so morally compelling,” Chandra told 3News Investigates. “You're thinking to yourself, ‘There ought to be some sort of ability to bring a cause of action against an employer in this circumstance.’ It's not race, it's not gender, it's not sex, it's not national origin, but it's fundamentally irrational and unfair.”
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.”
3News Investigates talked with dance physical therapist Jenna Kantor about the perception of a tie between larger body size and injury in dance. “There's no evidence supporting that at all,” Kantor said. “Ironically, it's actually when somebody is underweight, they're actually 1.8 times more likely to fracture a bone.
“In ballet, we want everyone to be a stick. We don't want to have any chest, we don't want to have any glutes, nothing. It's just everything’s got to be straight up and down. But not all bodies are made that way, even if they aren't overweight.”
“Serious and disturbing allegations have been raised concerning Cleveland Ballet. The Board of Directors takes these allegations seriously and is focusing its energy on reviewing the Ballet’s operations and responding appropriately. The matter is being addressed by the independent Board members not part of the Ballet’s operations.
“In addition to an internal review of these allegations which is underway, the Board has engaged experienced outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation of these allegations and advise the Board on how they relate to the workplace and operations of Cleveland Ballet. The Board and its independent counsel will invest whatever time necessary to conduct a thorough and complete review.
“The Board is intent on fixing anything that emerges from these internal and external reviews that diminishes its unwavering commitment to maintaining a safe, productive, diverse, inclusive, professional, collegial and secure work environment in which all artists and staff are treated with respect and dignity. The Board will not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, inappropriate or abusive conduct against dancers, staff, vendors, or any other individuals who conduct business with Cleveland Ballet.
“The Board is 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.”
Then, on Tuesday, Nov. 14, the board told us they suspended both Guadalupe and Krasnyansky pending the results of their investigations. As recently as Wednesday, Nov. 15, Becker told 3News Investigates he never got a reply to the letter he delivered to the Cleveland Ballet’s HR department, dated Aug. 3.
Despite the timing of hearing from Becker that Harris would not be able to continue to teach for the School of Cleveland Ballet’s outreach program due to her size, she showed up to support her summer students in their season-ending performance on Aug. 4 anyway.
“It was awesome to see all the work we put in and then be so proud of them. I was not going to let them down,” she said. “And they had no idea what was going on. They just knew I was there for them, and I wouldn't have changed it.”
Today, Harris is now teaching again with the Artful Living and Learning Program in Stark County. 3News Investigates is continuing to follow the lead on additional workplace allegations against the Cleveland Ballet’s Guadalupe, Krasnyansky, and others.