DALLAS – Dallas City Council members are calling for an investigation into the Dallas Black Dance Theater after nine dancers were fired last week.

The protesters speak of union busting, while the theater blames a social media video created by the dancers.

The firings came after the dancers voted to form a union in May. Now, city councilors say they want to learn more about what happened because the theater pays rent and utilities at the city’s expense.

Hundreds gathered in downtown Dallas on Saturday to support the nine fired dancers.

“Last week on Friday around 4:30 p.m., all dancers in Dallas Black’s main company received an email that our letter of intent for next season had been withdrawn and we were now laid off,” explained Micah Isaiah, one of the laid-off dancers.

The dancers voted to form a union in May and the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint in June.

But DBDT spokesman James Fuller says it was not the union formation but a video posted on social media that led to the layoffs.

“Every dancer was briefed, they had to go through the rules they have to follow in a classroom, the code of conduct for our professional dancers,” he said. “And there’s no question that you have to read through that and sign the document. You knew that there were steps in that video, that there were actions in that video that violated that. And they were all told, ‘These actions are termination-worthy violations.'”

The dancers say that there is nothing wrong with their video, which was created for social media to the theme song of “Family Matters”.

“We introduced every single dancer to the company and they said we were doing vulgar things in the video and, by our own admission, doing nonsense, which is absolutely not true,” Isaiah said.

On Monday, members of the Dallas City Council said they would launch an investigation into the firings.

“It affects us because the city leases a building for $10 a year, a piece of property downtown, to this organization. There is some subsidy of utility services,” said Councilman Gay Donnell Willis. “So if we have our own ethical and behavioral principles, that extends to those we do business with or have contracts with.”

City Councilor Adam Bazaldua agreed.

“What we’ve seen is a pretty classic textbook union busting,” he said. “I’d like to see an investigation.”

DBDT Executive Director Senetta Drew told FOX 4, “The Dallas Black Dance Theatre has not received any requests or inquiries from the City of Dallas regarding the decision to revoke letters of intent for dancers who have violated company policies… We remain open to any questions or concerns from the City or its representatives and will ensure our position and the reasons for our actions are fully understood.”

Dallas city staff told council members they would report back to them at their October meeting.