l’Opéra condamné pour le licenciement abusif d’une danseuse du ballet
Two months later, the shock is terrible: the director of dance announces to him his wish for the license for “professional insufficiency”. A decision formalized by a decree of July 7, 2021 from the president of the personalized management of the Opéra national de Bordeaux which sets the date of his dismissal on 1uh August 2022.
A decision that Nicole Muratov attacked, with her lawyer Me Julie Noël, before the Administrative Court of Bordeaux. He just proved him right. The decree of July 7, 2021 is canceled, his dismissal declared illegal. The court ordered the Opera to reinstate her within two months. And the condemned to pay his dancer 3,000 euros for her moral damage “given the vexatious nature of the reason for this dismissal, Mme Muratov having seen his professional abilities called into question, and the deterioration of his state of health”.
Unjustified sorrows
Nicole Muratov was 20 when she left her country, the United States, to join Bordeaux and her dream. For six years, she went on fixed-term contracts before signing a permanent contract in 2016. The Opera became her “second family”. But he suddenly judges her not up to par. “Consequent loss of endurance, virtuosity, physical performance, necessary for the interpretation of the roles of the classical repertoire” and “significant lack of concentration during shows” are the arguments put forward in the decree which seals his eviction.
“I hope this decision will show young dancers that we are employees like the others”
These criticisms do not hold, ruled the administrative court, whose judgment dismantles one by one the elements produced by the Opera. Like a certificate written in 2022 by a guest dancer… six years earlier. Certificate supposed to support the concentration difficulties of the young dancer. Or even accusations of entering the stage two seconds late during a performance during confinement without a spectator. “It is not established that it is about M.me Muratov “, sweeps the court, while recalling that the one who suddenly became the Ugly Duckling, and whose shortcomings go back several years, according to the sorrows presented by the Opera, had nevertheless been chosen to interpret a role of soloist during of the revival of “Blanche-Neige” in 2020.