Metro

Dancer: I’m no gold digger!

The young dancer accused of bilking an elderly director out of $775,000 is no gold digger, her lawyer said yesterday.

Antonio Calenda, 73, filed suit against Martha Graham dancer Natasha Diamond-Walker, 26, earlier this week, accusing her of “manipulating” him into giving her big bucks for a new apartment and then dumping him.

Diamond-Walker’s lawyer, Eric Cohen, said the Italian theater director’s lawsuit “grossly misrepresented the actual facts. If anyone was manipulated, it certainly wasn’t him.”

He said that when his client met Calenda in February of last year, she was performing at his theater in Trieste, Italy.

“He’s a person of stature and power, especially when and where they met,” he said.

He said Calenda used gifts in an attempt “to influence his ability to have a relationship with her. Everything he did, he did willingly and knowingly.”

Calenda’s suit contends that she pressured him into lending her $775,000 to buy an apartment near Lincoln Center, and that she dumped him after she closed on the pad, announcing that she had no intention of repaying him the interest-free loan.

Cohen said the pair broke up well after the closing for reasons unrelated to money.

“Sometimes, relationships just end,” he said, calling the suit a way for Calenda to “continue to try and affect this woman’s life.”

Diamond-Walker, Cohen said, was “shocked” by the suit, and plans on challenging the accusations in court.

“Ms. Diamond-Walker is a very talented artist and a serious performer, and will continue to focus on her work,” he said.