2 ballet dancers fired in scandal
NEW YORK — Two dancers were fired from the New York City Ballet on Saturday amid accusations that they were part of a ring of male dancers who inappropriately shared nude photos and videos of women.
The ballet company said principal dancers Amar Ramasar and Zachary Catarazo, as well as a third dancer, Chase Finlay, who resigned last month, “engaged in inappropriate communications, that while personal, off-hours and off-site, had violated the norms of conduct that NYCB expects from its employees.”
The firings came after a woman who had dated Finley, Alexandra Waterbury, said in a lawsuit this month that Finlay had sent explicit videos and photos of her taken without her knowledge to other men, including dancers with the company.
Waterbury charged in her lawsuit against City Ballet and Finlay that the company tolerated a “fraternity-like atmosphere” where male dancers understood that “they could degrade, demean, mistreat and abuse, assault and batter women without consequence.”
A union representing Ramasar and Catarazo said it would challenge the firings.