Travis Wall was officially terminated from his role as co-founder of the dance troupe he founded and starred in, Break the Floor, the company announced Friday.
In a statement, Break the Floor founder Tom Schrader said he was shocked to learn that an investigative podcast about sexual misconduct allegations against Wall was on the air. The podcast, Star, follows several women who accuse Wall of harassing them and of pushing some of them to sexualize professional relationships they did not necessarily wish to have.
“I am extremely disappointed and angered by the level of misconduct uncovered through Star,” Schrader’s statement read. “The decision to terminate Travis was a difficult one given the amount of time I have known Travis and have spent working with him. However, based on the recent allegations raised by the accusers, and my current understanding of the facts and information at hand, I no longer have confidence in Travis’ ability to conduct himself professionally or am willing to invest further in the company or in any professional or personal relations with Travis.”
The news was first reported by Matt Becker’s The Mary Sue, which claims the story “made a lot of very damning claims against Travis Wall, which the company has ignored.”
The nature of Wall’s termination was not disclosed in the statement.
Wall, 30, is a well-known dancer and choreographer who danced with the company until he was let go in March. Wall co-founded Break the Floor in 2013 with fellow dancers Lisa Wanamura and R. Val Johnson. The studio gained a large following after it debuted with four shows on Broadway at the Meatpacking District’s Broadway Armory in 2016.
The production recently shifted to a smaller venue on the Lower East Side, New York, for its first December run, according to its website.
In August, a Change.org petition launched by audience member Thomas F. O’Donnell called for Wall’s firing after he also came under fire by name in the podcast.
In his statement, Schrader did not explain why his relationship with Wall would have been anything different.
“Any conversations with Travis will not be described or discussed,” he said. “Everyone has the right to their privacy,” he said.
– Eben Brown, The Washington Post