A former dancer for the Mark Morris Dance Group, the acclaimed modern troupe, filed a lawsuit this week that accused the company’s leader and founder of mistreating several Black dancers.
The plaintiff, Taína Lyons, an Afro-Latina dancer, accused Mr. Morris, the acclaimed choreographer, and the dance company he founded of discrimination. Her lawsuit alleges that he told her that her hair was “too big” and a “distraction.”
In the lawsuit, Ms. Lyons, who started at the company in 2022 and was terminated in 2024, claimed that she had faced discrimination based both on race and on disability. The complaint, which was filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, also includes the account of a Black dancer who performed with the company from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s.
In a signed declaration filed with the court, the dancer, Charlton Boyd, wrote that for a time during his employment, Mr. Morris had called him by a racial slur on a “regular” basis, sometimes in front of other dancers and staff.
A statement from the company in response to the suit said that the Mark Morris Dance Group and Mr. Morris “strongly deny the allegations contained in the complaint of Taína Lyons.”
It said that the company “has long advocated for equal treatment of all since its inception.”
Mr. Morris, 69, is a prolific choreographer who started his company in 1980 and turned it into a fixture of the modern dance world. His center in Brooklyn is a nexus for both professional and amateur dance. His company has toured widely in the United States and Europe, and his breakthrough work, “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato,” set to the music of Handel, was broadcast on PBS as part of its “Great Performances” series.
Mr. Boyd, who danced with the company for more than a decade, is not a plaintiff in the suit, but his account is used to underscore what Ms. Lyons’s complaint describes as a “pattern and practice of mistreating dancers of color.”
In a signed declaration that was quoted in the lawsuit, Mr. Boyd writes that during his tenure with the company, Mr. Morris repeatedly greeted him with a racial slur. Mr. Morris continued to do so after Mr. Boyd objected, the filing says.
Mr. Boyd could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ms. Lyons’s complaint describes mounting tensions with leadership at the dance company over her requests to take time off from rehearsals and performances for an Achilles’ tendon injury and other health issues. The suit raises issues with Ms. Lyons’s interactions with several administrators with the dance company, saying that she felt “punished for taking medical leave.”
The suit is seeking damages, as well as reinstatement to the company or payment for lost wages.
Mr. Morris’s comments on her hair began when she was an apprentice with the company, the suit says, and he told her that he was “pro-Black hair” after she came to work with a new hairstyle. But later on, he commented twice about her hair being “too big,” and when she asked him what he recommended, he raised the possibility of a wig, the complaint says.
“Ms. Lyons found these comments to be humiliating, demeaning, and racist,” the filing says.
The complaint also notes that during a rehearsal in 2023, Ms. Lyons was present when he made a “racist joke” in front of company members, but said that she could not recall the exact substance of the joke.
Filed with the complaint was another declaration from a former company dancer named Malik Williams, who wrote that he resigned in 2023 amid tensions with Mr. Morris. While on tour with the company, he says in the filing, Mr. Morris shoved him while they passed each other in a theater. Mr. Williams, who confirmed the account by phone, resigned the next morning, the filing says.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
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