Dear Ashley Wheater, Board of Directors of The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, The Arpino Foundation, The New York Public Library, Dr. Julia Foulkes, Nicole Duffy, Affiliates, and Press,

I trust it won’t surprise you to learn why I’m reaching out.

I am Gavin Perri, manager for Edward Morgan and TheEdwardMorganBallet, and founder of the Aletheia Talent Group (ATG).

Recently, Joseph Alexander, director of TheEdwardMorganBallet, attended a Joffrey Ballet lecture and retrospective at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Even though Mr. Morgan was a Principal of Robert Joffrey’s original Joffrey Ballet in NYC in its heyday, and director of Joffrey II, Mr. Alexander did not expect to see any materials concerning Mr. Morgan, due to the legal history between the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Mr. Morgan that led to his founding of TheEdwardMorganBallet in 1997.

Had the Joffrey elected to omit any mention of Mr. Morgan, its choice would be consistent with the decision to redact Mr. Morgan from a Joffrey documentary, in rejection of the New York Times’ proposal that under Mr. Morgan’s direction, the Joffrey II became New York City’s expression of “two Joffrey Ballet companies, each based in a different community.”

As a result of that New York Times review. The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago grew jealous and fought to strip the “Joffrey” name from Joffrey II and the Joffrey Ballet School. In response, Mr. Morgan left the Joffrey to form his own company.

I can almost empathize with the Joffrey’s decision to further retaliate against Mr. Morgan, and make a misguided attempt at diluting the value of Mr. Morgan’s brand and associated trade dress by electing to omit him from the Joffrey documentary.

So why not go one step further by censoring any mention of Mr. Morgan from your retrospective?

Of course, Mr. Alexander did not attend this retrospective to investigate the legal relationship between the Joffrey, Mr. Morgan, and TheEdwardMorganBallet.

Rather, he was humoring himself to learn how the Joffrey represents their organization in 2024.

Mr. Alexander and I did not expect to find any materials concerning Edward Morgan.

That’s why we were shocked to discover that a critical component of the Joffrey Ballet’s auto-historical archive, is a blatant and racist misrepresentation of Edward Morgan’s life and work.

What is even more surprising, is that the New York Public Library upholds the Joffrey’s selfish attempts to rewrite history, contributing to the Joffrey’s racial retaliation and erasure.

First, Mr. Alexander observed a photograph of Mr. Morgan in the ballet “Touch Me” affixed beside images of Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino.

On a historical note, after the 1997 legal dispute between the Joffrey and Mr. Morgan, Robert Joffrey, and Gerald Arpino would turn in their graves to discover Mr. Morgan’s image placed next to theirs.

And we are certain they would rue the Joffrey’s reckless incompetence which precipitated the contents of this letter that follow.

On that note, Mr. Alexander saw a video highlighting Mr. Morgan’s rendition of “Touch Me” on The Arsenio Hall Show, a nationally televised work, that is one of Mr. Morgan’s most famous, radiant, and spiritually energized Joffrey solos.

A thrown-together opening credits scene emblazons a dancer’s name. Not Edward Morgan. Not by a long shot. The credit read: “Tony Morgan.”

“Tony Morgan.” I had to read it twice. Do you expect me to believe that this was an honest mistake? Mr. Morgan was not touched.

Surely, someone at the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago or the New York Public Library watched the original performance.

Arsenio Hall proclaims the star, “Edward Morgan.” In two separate instances, the name “Edward Morgan” exits Arsenio Hall’s mouth: https://vimeo.com/45694471

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Jerome Robbins Dance Division even contains a digitized sub-collection of Joffrey Ballet photographs of Mr. Morgan performing “Touch Me.” In this collection, Edward Morgan is correctly credited. The New York Public Library had every opportunity to determine Edward Morgan’s name is not “Tony,” but was negligent to preserve this component of performing arts history.

Do you mean to tell me that publicly-funded librarians are incapable of researching the materials they publish? Or perhaps they are illiterate and cannot discern between Tony and Mr. Morgan? I cannot decide whether these possibilities are better or worse than if the New York Public Library knowingly engaged in the Joffrey’s discriminatory retaliation, libel, and brand dilution.

Either way, a freshman art history student could easily walk into your Joffrey retrospective, then write an essay that asserts “Tony Morgan” performed “Touch Me,” and get flunked by their professor. Why should students, historians, performers, and taxpayers trust the New York Public Library to document human history accurately? 

If I were not so angry, I would be amused that the Joffrey elected to bury the evidence of their misconduct by editing both announcements of “The Joffrey Ballet’s Edward Morgan” from their own retrospective — because doing so forced them to omit the moment when Arsenio announces the Joffrey Ballet!

Gerald Arpino would be disappointed. When Edward Morgan and the Joffrey Ballet were announced in Arsenio Hall’s monologue, Arpino hollered — his excitement was so unadulterated and animalistic that Arsenio joked, “We’re having a flashback from a Who concert!”

But it’s only fair that if Mr. Morgan doesn’t get his name announced by Arsenio in the retrospective, the Joffrey’s name isn’t announced either. Mr. Morgan chalks it up to divine intervention.

After all, it was Mr. Morgan’s idea for the Joffrey to perform on The Arsenio Hall Show in the first place. It was even Mr. Morgan who made the first phone call to Paramount!

The “Touch Me” ballet was Edward Morgan’s. Gerald Arpino gifted him the ballet to perform anytime Mr. Morgan desired. After Mr. Morgan’s success on The Arsenio Hall Show, the “Touch Me” costume lived in Mr. Morgan’s apartment, alongside special videotapes of the ballet and music on reel-to-reel.

This honor was hard-won. Mr. Morgan learned “Touch Me” from a Black Joffrey dancer whom Mr. Morgan was told he would replace.

Arpino even told Mr. Morgan that Robert Joffrey disliked this dancer’s interpretation of “Touch Me.” Arpino explained that whenever “Touch Me” was performed by its original dancer, Mr. Joffrey would agonize in the theatre lobby, biding his time for the piece to finish, unable to suffer his own company’s work. 

Arpino assumed that “Touch Me” was the perfect fit for Mr. Morgan, simply because Mr. Morgan is Black. He further assumed Mr. Morgan would automatically have a profound understanding of Gospel music. 

But when Mr. Morgan was first taught the ballet, he knew nothing of Gospel tunes. Mr. Morgan grew up singing opera, and was more familiar with formal doxology than blues doctors’ ‘docs-ology.’

To compensate, Mr. Morgan self-studied the Spirituals on his record player.

A young Edward Morgan first looked up to the Joffrey dancer who taught him “Touch Me.” He bought the dancer flowers, colognes, and t-shirts — but Edward Morgan, innocent and naïve, was continually snubbed.

On the day Mr. Morgan performed on The Arsenio Hall Show, a limousine arrived in Hollywood to chauffeur him to the studio. The driver said it was “only for Edward” — but Mr. Morgan ensured his director Mr. Arpino would be allowed to accompany him.

But when Gerald Arpino arrived on set, he wasn’t allowed to attend the rehearsal, and was only permitted in the audience. Mr. Morgan was again forced to defend Arpino so that he would be allowed to rehearse Mr. Morgan.

Arsenio never spoke to Mr. Morgan, as was scripted, and instead chose to improvise at the last minute to forego engaging with him. We believe it is because Mr. Morgan is a powerful gay Black man.

During rehearsal, Mr. Morgan was laughed at and belittled by the production crew because he wore the “Touch Me” dress.

At the end of “Touch Me,” the choir extended the song. Mr. Morgan was forced to improvise — had he not possessed extraordinary talents, what might the performance have become?

Yes, plenty of other Joffrey dancers could have improvised. But they couldn’t have done so with such grace, tact, and fluidity that their movements appeared charted and rehearsed well in advance.

All of this, for you to get Mr. Morgan’s name wrong?

And Mr. Morgan’s “Touch Me” far outlived The Arsenio Hall Show.

Even after Mr. Morgan left the Joffrey, Mr. Arpino invited Mr. Morgan to perform “Touch Me” at the Finnish Embassy, the Seoul Opera House in Korea, the Fol De Rol Gala in San Francisco, the Dallas Black Dance Theatre Gala, the Virginia School of the Arts Gala in honor of Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, and far elsewhere.

When Aretha Franklin died, Mr. Morgan delivered a speech about her life and work, accompanied by a performance of “Touch Me,” at the World Financial Center.

A statue of Mr. Morgan performing “Touch Me” by Heidi Neuhoff was displayed at the World Trade Center and sadly destroyed on 9/11.

When President Bush saw him perform “Touch Me” at the Kennedy Center, the president went backstage during the performance’s intermission out of an immediate desire to meet Edward Morgan.

And it is no wonder why. On some occasions when Mr. Morgan would perform “Touch Me,” certain fellow Joffrey dancers could be found weeping in the wings of the stage.

When Mr. Morgan left the Joffrey to form his own company after the great New York Times review that caused the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago to strip away the “Joffrey” epaulette from Joffrey II and the Joffrey Ballet School, they demanded that Mr. Morgan return the costume and video tapes for the ballet they had given him, “Touch Me.”

When Mr. Morgan left the Joffrey, Gerald Arpino sent a spy to Mr. Morgan’s productions to learn if TheEdwardMorganBallet would perform “Touch Me.”

When I informed counsel of the Joffrey’s misrepresentation of the dancer for “Touch Me,” and of Edward Morgan’s life and work, they were delighted.

My Hollywood-nonchalant entertainment attorney transformed in a single instant from his usual character, the nonplussed speculator, into a rabid hyena.

Counsel told us that he eagerly anticipates your continued misconduct. 

You have violated my clients’ right to publicity and published libelous materials which damage the professional reputation and commercial value of my clients Mr. Morgan, Mr. Alexander, TheEdwardMorganBallet and Fashion Dance Runway, in addition to Aletheia Capital Partners’ upcoming slate of films by Edward Morgan and all related motion picture properties and subsidiaries, including damages to each respective entity’s trade dress.

Furthermore, the Joffrey has engaged in all of this reckless behavior, and intentionally misled the New York Public Library to follow suit, in an attempt to retaliate against Mr. Morgan for the dispute that began in 1997 and led to Mr. Morgan founding TheEdwardMorganBallet.

It is also possible that the Joffrey has breached the terms of contracts by and between the Joffrey and Mr. Morgan, and engaged in a form of unfair competition — because Tony Morgan is a contemporary Black dancer. Furthermore, a Google search for “Tony Morgan Dancer” yields a New York Times review of Anthony Morgan, a dancer/choreographer who was active during the 1980s.

It’s safe to assume that after seeing the Joffrey retrospective piece on “Touch Me,” the general public would conduct an internet search for “Tony Morgan Dancer” to reveal commingled results for a Black dancer and a prominent New York Times-reviewed dancer who was active during the 1980s, and amalgamate those two persons after being misled by the Joffrey and the New York Public Library to concoct a fictitious Black male dancer, “Tony Morgan,” who the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center now asserts performed on The Arsenio Hall Show in the 1980’s.

The Joffrey’s choice of the name “Tony Morgan” was deliberately strategized in your efforts to confuse the public. The New York Public Library’s negligence has caused a gross degeneration of academic, historical, and factual standards in the performing arts, especially at your Lincoln Center archives, and eroded the public’s trust of the entire Library system.

The Joffrey has contrived the erasure of Edward Morgan from archival materials. The New York Public Library has carelessly published their libel.

The Joffrey, in their attempts to erase Edward Morgan, has relied on the fact that the Joffrey has been “understudied by academics” (as per a Joffrey press release on September 25th, 2024), and this archival disparity is doubly true for Black dancers in the 1980s.

Do taxpayers not finance the New York Public Library to correct this very sort of disparity?

You should be ashamed of yourselves.

And arguably, any of this conduct constitutes tortious interference with ongoing business relationships by means of such damages.

However, you must apologize to my clients for attempting to harm their reputation without delay, so they can resume focusing on their undying mission to “heal the world through the arts.”

Their efforts to heal the world will include a documentary surrounding the life and work of Mr. Morgan, CHOREOGRAPHING LIFE, which is currently in pre-production with Mr. Alexander and myself attached as producers.

CHOREOGRAPHING LIFE will include a complete and factual account of Mr. Morgan’s relationship with the Joffrey, and set the record straight.

In the meantime, we demand that you either delete all references to Mr. Morgan in your Joffrey retrospective without delay or republish them in a factual manner, pending our written authorization in each instance of republication.

In any case, we require that you publish a written apology to Mr. Morgan to be distributed to all major media outlets. 

Furthermore, you shall grant us final approval regarding the contents of your apology, which will be authorized only in writing.

Attempting to confuse Edward Morgan with Tony Morgan (or a fictitious amalgamation of Tony Morgan and Anthony Morgan) in the public eye is racist to the core.

Especially when you attempt to frame Mr. Morgan’s stardom at the Joffrey under the lens of equality and civil rights, simply because he is Black.

While I was researching for CHOREOGRAPHING LIFE, Mr. Morgan shared a powerful story with me.

Mr. Morgan explained: “When I was in the Joffrey, I was at the top of the world. While I was in Joffrey II, dancing next to Ronald Reagan’s son and being compared to him in the New York Times, I was never thinking about being Black or White — I was just focused on my dancing.

My mother and father never preached blackness, or that Black people are different than White people. If they had, I never could have achieved what I did.

When I saw the first “Touch Me” dancer, I didn’t know I was fighting not to be a token. I didn’t know that when I was being given the “Black roles,” I was fighting to transcend them.

But at the time, a Black butler was serving Reagan in the White House, being underpaid. As I was traveling the world, jumping around dancing, playing the grand Butler in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and being compared to Reagan’s son, this man was working like a slave in the White House. That made me feel sad for him.”

Mr. Morgan is steadfast that emphasizing his revolutionary work in your company as a step forward for Black dancers tokenizes him, and reduces his accomplishments to a caricature that perpetuates the systemic racism that you claim to oppose.

He wishes that young people’s human potential was not limited by a racist system that so deeply ingrains differentiation between racial groups as a defining measure of career success.

And Mr. Morgan again emphasizes that believing in this racial differentiation only supports and upholds it.

In a 1983 Washington Post interview with Mr. Morgan, which states that he was one of four Black dancers in major companies, Mr. Morgan explains that he “has never personally experienced outright discrimination” for being Black, perhaps because of his uniquely anti-racist outlook which defies tokenization or racialization of his personhood, “but he has heard stories.”

However, inscribed on the walls of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, next to Mr. Morgan’s “Touch Me,” is the assertion that the Joffrey’s hiring Black dancers is a “step … towards inclusivity.” 

Throughout the retrospective, the Joffrey and the New York Public Library attempt to establish a narrative that the Joffrey’s “drive to widen who was part of ballet” led to the Joffrey casting “dancers with African American … heritage who had been overlooked by other ballet companies.”

Mr. Morgan never felt that the Joffrey hired him because he is Black. They hired him because he is fabulous. He was also offered scholarships to American Ballet Theatre and the School of American Ballet. When Alvin Ailey saw Mr. Morgan dance, he invited Mr. Morgan to join his company.

The Washington Post explains this in Mr. Morgan’s 1983 interview: “Morgan’s own experience was free of … [racist] interference. He started with the Dallas Black Dance Theater, ‘and when my teacher saw I had some potential, she took me to another company, an all-white company, where I could get more classically trained’ [said Mr. Morgan]. From there, his progress was smooth.”

Because Mr. Morgan will not be denigrated by a racist system, he automatically resists tokenization. His career cannot be understood in terms of playing traditionally “Black” roles.

Therefore to claim that the Joffrey made a “step forward” by hiring him is racist because it pretends that the Joffrey was doing Mr. Morgan, some “Black dancer,” a racially motivated favor.

Yet Mr. Morgan’s body of work may even overshadow that of the Joffrey, evidenced by his 1997 New York Times Review which led to his founding TheEdwardMorganBallet.

And that’s why you retaliated by miscrediting him as Tony Morgan, a fictitious amalgamation, an anonymized Black dancer who was purportedly active during the Joffrey’s zenith in the 1980s.

How dare the New York Public Library publish something that’s not true? Especially when all the fact-checking they need to conduct can be lazily performed in the same building as the retrospective or through the library’s own publicly available digital records.

And how dare the New York Public Library contribute to the Joffrey’s racial erasure and libelous retaliation in their historical archives? How dare they write it on the Library walls?

You have robbed both our generation and future generations of the history of ballet.

And in the same breath, you claim to have made a step forward for Black dancers. How disgusting. 

Mr. Morgan says: “You have placed a black mark upon the Joffrey and the New York Public Library.”

I will admit that Mr. Alexander, TheEdwardMorganBallet, and myself are guilty of promoting Mr. Morgan as “the first Black director of Joffrey II,” and “the first Black choreographer to have their own show on MTV.”

But every Joffrey dancer who knew Edward Morgan is aware that Mr. Morgan typically resists these categorizations. 

He only permits Mr. Alexander and I to utilize them in instances where Mr. Morgan believes that “playing the race card” will enable him to further his mission to heal the world through the arts, in hopes that one day, “the race card” will lose its relevance.

This authentically anti-racist message is part of the purpose of CHOREOGRAPHING LIFE.

But, in the spirit of honesty and charity, I will present you with the option: is it possible that confusing Edward Morgan with Tony Morgan sincerely was a mistake?

If so, that’s far worse, because then, the problem is that your company must think all Black dancers look alike.

We look forward to hearing whether you made a racist error or an intentional libelous misrepresentation.

Your reply should accompanied by your heartfelt proposal for your public apology in either instance.

Sincerely,

Gavin Perri