But more than a year after he left amid allegations of sexual harassment and physical and verbal abuse, he continues to make his presence felt in ways both big and small — including by ordering last-minute cast changes in performances of his ballets and showing up backstage after a show.
Ashley Bouder, a star dancer, said Martins removed her at the eleventh hour from the opening-night cast of “The Sleeping Beauty” — a position she held for nearly a decade — as retribution for publicly calling for a new day at the company.
“It completely blindsided me,” Bouder said.
Contractually, living choreographers are given final approval in artistic decisions, including casting, and the right to go backstage after performances, though they typically yield to the wishes of management.
The abrupt change was jarring to Jonathan Stafford, the company’s interim leader, who said he had thought the casting was “locked in.” He said he was also upset when Martins defied his instructions to wait until the dancers had exited before going backstage after the first performance of “The Sleeping Beauty” last week.
“Unfortunately, he did not respect my wishes, even though I was crystal clear,” said Stafford, a ballet master and former principal dancer. “I was as surprised as anybody,” he added. “One dancer complained to me directly.”
These sensitivities stem from the circumstances surrounding Martins’ departure. He was the subject of multiple accusations of abuse, but an investigation commissioned by City Ballet’s board did not corroborate those allegations, which former dancers and others had made in interviews with The New York Times and The Washington Post. That outcome divided the company, with some dancers sad to see Martins go and others upset that he had not been held to account.
Martins retains artistic say over his ballets, including “The Sleeping Beauty,” now in performances, and “Romeo + Juliet,” which was performed last February. Both had been programmed before Martins retired under pressure in January 2018.
He changed the casting for “The Sleeping Beauty” just before the roles were officially announced — pulling Bouder from her usual position as Princess Aurora in the first cast and switching her with Sterling Hyltin in the third cast. He also swapped out several other dancers at the last minute. This has left some in the company bristling at Martins’ remaining levers of control.
Casting decisions are always fraught in the dance world, given the intense competition for plum roles. And every City Ballet part is technically up for grabs, though certain important roles unofficially belong to particular dancers, who have owned them year after year in the first casts.
Sara Mearns, for example, leads the first cast in “Swan Lake,” Megan Fairchild has “Coppélia,” Hyltin has “Romeo + Juliet,” and Bouder has “The Sleeping Beauty,” which she danced for the first time at age 20 opposite Damian Woetzel.
Bouder said she believed that Martins made the casting change to retaliate for her outspokenness about feminism and gender equality and to reward Hyltin, who had publicly defended him.
“I feel like he is punishing me, even though he is not my boss anymore,” Bouder said. “And by talking about it I can be punished even further. But that’s a risk I have to take.”
Stafford said that he would have been “happy to keep Ashley as first cast going forward” and that the current management team would rethink how casting is handled by living choreographers outside the company in the future. “It may need some adjusting to make sure the dancers’ interests are protected,” he said.
In Dance Magazine in April, Bouder called for the ballet world to embrace equal opportunity. She founded her own company, the Ashley Bouder Project, in 2014 to promote the work of women and other underrepresented voices in classical ballet.
When City Ballet was roiled again by accusations against three male dancers over vulgar texts about women, Bouder wrote last fall on Instagram: “Though this behavior was carried out by a few highly visible men alone, it was allowed to fester in our currently leaderless state. May we find a moral and fair individual to lead us out of this darkness and into future respect, integrity and success.”
Martins declined through his friend Earle Mack, a former City Ballet trustee, to be interviewed for this article. “He’s publicity shy,” Mack said. Hyltin did not respond to requests for comment.
Mack also contested assertions that Martins’ cast changes were punitive. “Balanchine recast his ballets all the time — I don’t think it’s anything unusual,” Mack said. “If Peter wants to do that, he wants to do that for the integrity of the ballet.”
Even as City Ballet wrestles over its future relationship with Martins, the Balanchine Trust — which licenses George Balanchine’s work — has given him a vote of confidence. The Trust recently approved a request by the Mariinsky Ballet (formerly the Kirov) in St. Petersburg, Russia, to have Martins oversee works by Balanchine, City Ballet’s founding choreographer, whom Martins succeeded as ballet master in chief.
“This will open the door to him being the gatekeeper of Balanchine all over the world,” said Mack, whose wife, Carol D. Mack, now serves on the board. “There is nobody better to oversee the Balanchine choreography than a man who’s worked hand in hand with Balanchine and for 35 years has preserved that legacy.”
When Yuri Fateev, the acting director of the Mariinsky, told the Balanchine Trust he wanted to engage Martins, “we all said, of course, go with it,” said Barbara Horgan, 86, the Trust’s longtime director. “Peter came to Balanchine in 1967, he is very familiar with the Balanchine repertory — you can’t take that away from him. He’s a wonderful ballet master, and I think it’s a wonderful idea. Why not? Let him spread the magic around a little bit.”
“I’m devoted to Peter,” she added. “What’s he supposed to be, in purgatory for the rest of his life? Give me a break.”
Not long after Martins’ departure, City Ballet was convulsed yet again by allegations that three principal men, including Amar Ramasar, one of the company’s biggest stars, had shared vulgar text messages. All three are gone from the company. (Ramasar is working again: This month he starred in Teatro dell’Opera di Roma’s production of “Carmen.” He also danced this week with Ballet Next at New York Live Arts.)
In the wake of the upheaval at City Ballet, Stafford said last fall that he was working to create “a more nurturing environment.” The company’s dancers spoke up, too, taking the stage at the fall gala to deliver a statement that said, in part: “We strongly believe that a culture of equal respect for all can exist in our industry. We will not put art before common decency, or allow talent to sway our moral compass.”
In an interview, Bouder emphasized that she continues to support City Ballet and remains “very much a part of” the company. “Dealing with somebody like Peter — who could be mean and could be a tyrant,” she said, “how do you change that reality when it’s been that way for so long?”
“I wish every woman could stand up and say, ‘That isn’t right,'” Bouder added. “Women, in particular, have been silenced for too long.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.