CLEVELAND — In the middle of an investigation into alleged body size discrimination, toxic workplace behavior, and plagiarism, another member of the Cleveland Ballet's leadership has stepped down ahead of the company's premiere of "The Nutcracker" at Playhouse Square.
Cynthia Graham has been replaced as interim Artistic Director, a role she held for three weeks following the Nov. 14 suspensions of Cleveland Ballet co-founder Gladisa Guadalupe and Guadalupe’s husband, fellow co-founder and former President and CEO Michael Krasnyansky, the latter of whom resigned on Nov. 22.
While the Cleveland Ballet board did not respond to 3News Investigates' question about why Graham resigned, a person familiar with the group's operations and a person who has danced for the ballet — both of whom asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation — told us that Graham was part of a system of bullying and intimidation led by Guadalupe and Krasnyansky, where staff had no one to report to because of family and a longtime friend holding human resource positions.
Graham, in her longtime role as director of repertoire, is accused of consistently videotaping dancers to shame them out of leaving the dance rehearsal space even to use the bathroom, having condescending and insulting outbursts in the studios, and singling out individual dancers with repeated and escalating beratement over mistakes while rehearsing. She is also accused of being complicit with Guadalupe in years of plagiarizing portions of "The Nutcracker" as conceived by choreographer Dennis Nahat.
Many choreographers put their own spin on the traditional "Nutcracker" ballet that was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and his assistant Lev Ivanov in the late 1800s, set to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Choreographers then own the changes they've made in terms of dance steps, adjustments to the storyline, and the staging of the show, which makes any plagiarism of those choices illegal.
Both Guadalupe and Graham are well-acquainted with the choreography of Nahat, as they both danced the lead role in his version of "The Nutcracker" in the 1980s when Nahat served as artistic director of the previous Cleveland Ballet company, which operated from 1972-2000. When 3News brought these allegations to the attention of Nahat — who registered ownership of his version of "The Nutcracker" with the United States Copyright Office in the early '80s — he told us he never gave permission to Guadalupe or Graham to use his choreography in any of their Cleveland Ballet performances.
"When I left Cleveland, my original contract written years ago, years before I left, specified that I owned my work from the beginning of time to the present until the end of time," Nahat said. "And that if I were to leave the company for any reason in the future, my ballets would, of course, go with me."
3News obtained video of a 2021 Cleveland Ballet performance of "The Nutcracker" that has since been removed from the company's Vimeo page, where the lead role is performed by Guadalupe's daughter Marla Aleyda. We showed it to Nahat to see if he recognized the choreography as his own.
"It's on the tape that you sent me," he answered. "That variation with those very steps, and the idea — the basic choice of props and staging and design of the work and how her attitude is — yeah."
During the course of our investigation, Aleyda — who is also scheduled to dance the lead role in "The Nutcracker" this season for the Cleveland Ballet — posted a video from the 1980s to Instagram on Oct. 17 showing Guadalupe dancing one of the portions of Nahat's "Nutcracker" that she is accused of plagiarizing (footage is in the fifth and final slide).
In the video, a young Guadalupe praises Nahat, saying, "Dennis — not the choreographer, Dennis the person — makes things easier, and you learn faster." In the same video, Nahat returns that praise and describes Guadalupe as someone who "possesses a true 19th century ballerina style, one that is rare in today's 20th century.
In our recent interview with Nahat, he said, "I remember that time when we were doing interviews for all of the principal dancers performing that year, and this cut was Gladisa dancing the solo of Maria in Act One."
WKYC asked Nahat to compare the video from the Instagram post to the 2021 performance video, and when he did, he said, "This dance is directly out of my 'Nutcracker,' which [Gladisa] danced many times. I'm flattered, but I'm saddened, because I wasn't asked. You must pay artists and/or have an agreement with them in some manner of speaking."
3News offered to show Cleveland Ballet Board Chairman Michael Frank the footage of Guadalupe and Graham performing Nahat's copyrighted version of "The Nutcracker" along with the 2021 Cleveland Ballet performance that is said to indicate years of plagiarism of Nahat’s work. But Frank declined, citing a lack of expertise and telling us, in part:
"It is my understanding that whether one work could be considered plagiarized from another is a complex issue requiring real expertise in choreography and that some similarities don't necessarily constitute plagiarism. ... Ms. Guadalupe and Ms. Graham adamantly insist there is no plagiarism."
We also asked someone who has danced for the Cleveland Ballet to review Aleyda's Instagram video showing Guadalupe dancing Nahat's copyrighted version of "The Nutcracker," and that person told us:
"From the Instagram clip, the dance Gladisa is doing is 85-90 percent identical to the dance performed by the character 'Caroline' in the Cleveland Ballet's Nutcracker being rehearsed now. There are a few differences in feet movements (choreography) and arm shapes (or as we say in ballet French, 'port de bras') but these differences are negligible."
The same person told 3News that, after our investigation launched, Graham changed some of that choreography, but not all of it.
We first reached out to the Cleveland Ballet Board of Directors with questions about these allegations and more on Oct. 30, including the separate claims of body size discrimination that contributed to Guadalupe's suspension and Krasnyansky's eventual ouster. On Nov. 3, the Board told us, in part:
"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.
"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."
When Graham was first appointed to temporarily fill the role left vacant by Guadalupe's suspension, WKYC reached out again to the Cleveland Ballet Board on Nov. 16, alerting them to the fact that Graham was also implicated in these plagiarism allegations and was the subject of other claims. The Board responded with the following statement on Nov. 17:
"The scope of the independent external investigation commissioned by the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Ballet encompasses any and all allegations about any acts or conditions which are inconsistent with the professional and ethical standards embraced by the Board. That investigation is ongoing and until such time as there is a reasonable basis for the Board to draw conclusions as to any of the allegations we will have no additional comments."
On Dec. 8, we asked the Board, among other things:
- How much of the choreography, story, staging and production of "The Nutcracker" has been changed within the last month?
- Does the Cleveland Ballet have a timeline in place for completion of its internal and external investigations?
- Does the Cleveland Ballet plan to make the results of its internal and external investigations into its management public?
- As its investigations proceed, what is the Cleveland Ballet board doing to protect employees within the organization from intimidation, control and retaliation continuing due to the continued employment of family members and longtime friends of Gladisa Guadalupe and Michael Krasnyansky?
The Cleveland Ballet board did not respond to any of these questions. Guadalupe remains suspended at this time.
Previous coverage from 3News Investigates: