KIMBERLY GLASCO FIASCO REACHES ARBITRATION.

TORONTO--Principal dancer Kimberly Glasco is not taking her dismissal from National Ballet of Canada sitting down. Since being told by artistic director James Kudelka on December 1 that her contract would not be renewed in June, the ballerina, 38, and her attorneys have waged a public campaign to build support for her reinstatement. Kudelka claims that, as a predominantly classical ballerina, her usefulness to the company is limited; Glasco states that her opposition to Kudelka's policies as a dancers' representative on the board of directors is the real reason for her "wrongful dismissal."

L'affaire Glasco became a public-relations nightmare for the company when the media, particularly The National Post and The Globe and Mail newspapers, took up her cause. Glasco's new legal team (she fired her first lawyer) has kept the controversy in the headlines through statements issued by the "Bring Back Kimberly Glasco Network," which claims that Glasco was let go "for reasons unrelated to her artistic performances or box-office appeal." (The group, launched on January 25, has opened a Web site at www.kim-glasco.com and claims it has more than 500 members.) A series of "special performances" throughout April and May featuring Glasco have also been scheduled.

The battle has continued to attract media attention with a series of public statements and legal actions. On January 28, after the board backed Kudelka's decision, Glasco, as a board member, called for a special general meeting of the Members of the National Ballet, who have the power to overrule board decisions. (Any donor contributing $100 or more is considered a member.) The following day, Glasco filed a lawsuit for libel and slander against the company, Kudelka, executive director Valerie Wilder, board chairman Allen Marple, and communications director Julia Drake.

Glasco's team then announced on February 2 that the special general meeting--to seek an independent review/binding arbitration which the board until that point had refused--would be held on April 13. On February 18, the National agreed to binding arbitration, but the following day Glasco issued a statement saying that because the company would not allow the arbitrator to have the right of reinstatement, the process was "meaningless."

Five days later, the National, in a preemptive strike, called a membership meeting for March 22, asking for proxies in support of the artistic management and the board. The same day, a letter written by former ballerina Karen Kain was mailed out to all members stressing that it is "the role of the artistic director to decide who will appear with the company." At the same time, the dancers elected Jennifer Fournier, a principal ballerina, to replace Glasco as board representative.

Canadian Actors' Equity Association, the dancers' union in Canada, has also entered the fray by calling for an independent review of the Glasco case. CAEA also filed grievances on behalf of all members who have not had their contracts renewed. Equity spokesperson Susan Wallace told Dance Magazine that she is concerned that dancers (including Glasco) are being dismissed because they have become expensive. She cited a pattern of letting dancers go just before they are eligible for a fifty-two-week contract (in the seventh year).

Glasco's lawyer, Sean Dewart, faxed the media on March 9, accusing the company of practicing "misleading legal maneuvers," which he called a strategy "to wait out Ms. Glasco until her employment ... comes to an official end." Glasco's team then sent out a communique noting that it had instituted injunction proceedings in the Ontario Court over the fairness of the National's March 22 meeting.

Suddenly, the Sturm und Drang was over, at least temporarily. On March 18, the National, Glasco, and CAEA issued a joint statement saying that all three parties had agreed to submit "substantially" all issues in dispute to binding arbitration, including reinstatement. Both general meetings were canceled; all lawsuits, grievances, and complaints were dropped or held in reserve; and only tripartite statements will be issued in the future.