'We Want to Be Treated as Adults'; Dance Theatre of Harlem Dancers Get New Contract after First Dancer Strike in United States History

Ben-Itzak, Paul, Gladstone, Valerie, Dance Magazine

NEW YORK CITY -- Dance Theatre of Harlem and its 35 performers have tentatively agreed on a new contract, after the employees became the first unionized dancers in U.S. history to go on strike. The settlement came February 9, two days after the dancers forced DTH director Arthur Mitchell to cancel auditions for apparent replacement dancers by throwing up a picket line at DTH's Harlem headquarters.

Details of the agreement, which had yet to be ratified by the boards of DTH and the American Guild of Musical Artists at press time, were not immediately available. AGMA president Gerald Otte was ecstatic. "While both the union and management can be proud of this agreement, the true …

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Publication information: Article title: 'We Want to Be Treated as Adults'; Dance Theatre of Harlem Dancers Get New Contract after First Dancer Strike in United States History. Contributors: Ben-Itzak, Paul - Author, Gladstone, Valerie - Author. Magazine title: Dance Magazine. Volume: 71. Issue: 4 Publication date: April 1997. Page number: 34+. © 1999 Dance Magazine, Inc. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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