Former Dance Instructor Sues for Sexual Assault


A pair of professional dancers filed a lawsuit Wednesday, accusing her of sexually abusing and abusing a former dance teacher and of participating in some of the harassment, accusing her wife, an internet-famous ballet dancer, who danced with the Boston Ballet.

Known by several names but named Mitchell Taylor Button in a suit, the former teacher is married to Dusty Button, a principal dancer with the Boston Ballet, who has amassed more than 300,000 people. Instagram followers and several corporate sponsorships with viral photos and videos of her dancing.

The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court in Nevada, alleges that “Buttons abused their position of power and prestige in the dance community to gain the loyalty and trust of young dancers” and that the couple would “use these relationships to strain”. engaging in sexual acts by force and fraud.” Mr. Button is the defendant in the case; Not Ms. Button, but described as a “non-party co-conspirator”. The couple’s lawyer said they denied the charges.

The lawsuit said one of the plaintiffs, Sage Humphries, who is now a dancer with the Boston Ballet, met Buttons in 2016 while she was on the company’s apprenticeship program, and the couple sexually and verbally abused her, forcing her to live with them, and isolating her from her family.

“They had control over my phone and my Instagram password and email,” Ms Humphries, now 23, said in an interview. “They had complete control over me. If I wanted to do anything, I had to ask them first.”

A second plaintiff in the case, Gina Menichino, alleges that a few years ago, Mr. Button sexually assaulted her when she was 13, and that he is a 25-year-old dance instructor in Florida.

The lawsuit says Mr Button used several names, including Mitchell Moore, Taylor Moore and Mitchell Button.

Speaking on behalf of the couple, attorney Ken Swartz said in a statement, “Taylor and Dusty Button categorically deny these baseless allegations and look forward to the opportunity through court proceedings to refute all of the plaintiffs’ false and fraudulent claims. ”

According to the lawsuit, Ms. Menichino, now 25, said she met Mr. Button when she was a student at the Centerstage Dance Academy in Tampa, Fla., where she knew him as Taylor Moore. The lawsuit says that when she sexually assaulted Mr. Button twice in 2010, she and Mr. Button shared the same blanket while watching movies with other dancers in the studio.

The lawsuit said Mr Button regularly sent obscene text messages, photos and videos to Ms Menichino and asked her to do the same. She said that Ms. Menichino dreams of becoming a professional dancer and that Mr. Button would reward her “fit” with special dance opportunities, such as teaching assistant at a dance convention.

“The whole game was to make him happy,” he said in an interview. “Don’t make her angry, or I was worthless and would have lost my dance career.”

Menichino, now a dancer, teacher, and choreographer, said in an interview that she reported her experiences to the police in 2018, but they said they didn’t find enough evidence to prosecute her. According to police records provided by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, another dancer from the same Tampa studio reported to police in 2012 that Mr. Button had sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions, some at his home; According to the records, this case also did not result in criminal charges, in part due to the lack of supporting physical evidence.

Ms. Menichino’s mother said in an interview that her daughter had “inappropriate interactions” after she and Mr. Button quit their jobs at the studio.

In Ms. Humphries’ case, her parents said in an interview that they felt there was something wrong with their daughter’s living situation and flew to Boston to “rescue” her.

Ms. Humphries said in an interview that she admired Ms. Button, the principal of the school. dancer with the Boston Ballet, and began spending time with her husband extensively in 2017. But according to the case, his behavior towards her became increasingly controlled.

According to the court filing, the couple insisted that Ms. Humphries sleep regularly in their flat, eventually forcing her to live there full-time and pay for her meals and personal expenses; Mr Button said that if he had access to his social media account, he could “make him famous like Dusty”.

“If Sage attempted to distance himself or fail to comply with the Buttons,” the lawsuit said, “they would threaten to cancel their financial support and sabotage his career.”

The lawsuit said that one evening, Mr. Button sexually assaulted Ms. Humphries in her apartment and initiated a pattern of sexual abuse that sometimes included acts of violent sex with which she did not consent. In the filing, she said several times that Mrs. Button held her to immobilize her while Mr. Button had sex with her. According to the lawsuit, at one point the husband and wife got into a physical argument that resulted in Dusty being “bumped in the face” because Dusty was angry that he had sex with Mrs. Humphries.

According to the lawsuit, in August 2017, Ms Humphries, who was 19 at the time, received an abuse protection order against both Ms. Button and Mr. Button.

The Boston Ballet said on Thursday that Miss Button was fired in May 2017, but declined to say why.

“Boston Ballet supports Sage Humphries who boldly stands out, shares her experiences to protect others, and seeks accountability and justice,” the company said in a statement.

Lawyer Sigrid McCawley, who represents the two plaintiffs, said there is a trend of predation in the dance world due to the built-in power dynamics and dancers’ desire to seek approval from authority figures.

“Caring for a perpetrator in this setting is particularly easy because it has full access to very young victims over long periods of time,” he said.

Kitty Bennett contributed to the reporting.





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