About the Dance Data Project®
Scene from Dos Lados, Choreography by Stephanie Martinez
Courtesy of Kansas City Dance Festival and Moving Arts Cincinnati.
Photo by Hiromi Platt
THE DDP MISSION
To promote equity in all aspects of classical ballet by providing a metrics based analysis through our data base while showcasing women led companies, festivals, competitions, venues, special programs and initiatives. We focus on artists of merit: choreographers, photographers, lighting, costume, set designers, and commissioned composers.
HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
DDP began as an independent project researching the lack of new female choreographic works. We also examine gender imbalance in artistic and administrative leadership in dance companies, venues, and organizations. Our research has focused on examining productions by companies generally rooted in or greatly influenced by the European classical form. With over 2,300 records of choreographic works in the database and counting, the Project is currently expanding to house records of ballet festival repertoires and leadership, choreographic fellowships, ballet competitions, summer intensives, musical compositions that accompany dance works, production staff, boards of directors, and initiatives by companies to promote an equitable environment.
With this expansion and our recent 501(c)(3) status, we seek not only to continue informing diversity, but also to ensure the fiscal and operational transparency of ballet companies.
The “ballet world” has only recently begun to discuss gender inequality in leadership. We will use our data to enrich conversations that create change. Through our original research and information derived from the Listening Tour, we will highlight companies and initiatives that are making concrete gains in promoting female choreographers and women in leadership positions. Through sharing the results of our data analysis and acquired insight from the Listening Tour, DDP will design programming specifically tailored to the needs of up-and-coming female talent in ballet.
Founded and established by Elizabeth Yntema in 2015 as a simple database, DDP now operates as an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit and raises awareness related to gender equality, primarily in areas of leadership and choreographic opportunities. DDP does so by issuing data reports, advocacy, and programming. Because DDP received its 501(c)(3) status in March 2019, we are not currently soliciting donations, though suggestions are most welcome.
THE DDP TEAM
Our Founder
Elizabeth Yntema is the President & Founder of the Dance Data Project®. She is a member of WTTW and the Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land in Illinois. Liza was graduated from the University of Virginia in 1980 and is 1984 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where she was awarded the annual prize for Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice. Ms. Yntema is a past member of numerous organizations in the Chicagoland area, including the Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Women’s Bar Association, Winnetka Board of the Northwestern Settlement House and the Children’s Home and Aid Society and the Junior League of Chicago, where she was named as Volunteer of the Year for her work advocating for homeless women and children. Named to the 2018-2019 cohort of The Philanthropy Workshop, Liza will spend a year as part of a global network of 450 program graduates designated as “the next generation of strategic philanthropists” with modules in London, Cambodia and San Francisco.
Ms. Yntema has underwritten ballets for both the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Company, including those by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (World Premier of Mammatus) Stephanie Martinez, Penny Saunders, Robyn Minenko Williams, Nicolas Blanc and Christopher Wheeldon. Liza was Lead Sponsor of Crystal Pite’s work Solo Echo as part of the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Hubbard Street Dance Company. In May 2018, American Ballet Theatre announced the launch of its ABT Women’s Movement, a multi-year initiative supporting the creation of new works by female choreographers for the company. Ms. Yntema, along with the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, was an initial Principal Sponsor for this initiative and continues to support its development. Ms. Yntema recently joined the Boston Ballet’s multi-year initiative ChoreograpHER as a Lead Sponsor.
Isabelle Vail
Director of Research & Development
Vail began consulting for DDP in 2017 while studying as a Presidential Scholar of Dance at Wake Forest University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Psychology and French. A lifelong ballet dancer, Vail’s understanding of ballet, its repertoire, community, and technique is extensive. Ms. Vail manages the DDP database and maintains a record of repertoire from which she generates reports on the inclusion tendencies of domestic ballet companies. Her other duties include coordinating the communication of DDP findings with our collaborators, assisting in the management of the website and social media, and driving DDP’s efforts to encourage equity and inclusion within the dance community.
After a year abroad teaching English to middle-school students in Rouen, France, Vail transitioned her role as Director of Research to full-time in June 2019.
Susan West
Project and Research Consultant
Susan West is an active supporter of the arts and an advocate of diversity in the workplace. She joined the Dance Data Project® in 2016 as Lead Researcher, now serving as a research and project consultant.
Susan has spent her career working for and with higher education institutions. She is an Associate in the Higher Education Strategy & Operations practice at Huron Consulting Group where she leads a discussion group on women in the workplace and engages in numerous efforts to support, promote, and recruit women in higher education consulting. Prior to joining Huron, Susan was Associate Director, Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), at Yale University. While at Yale Susan served as Co-Chair of Yale’s LGBTQ Affinity Group from 2013-2015 and co-founded the organization Women in IT (WIT) @ Yale in 2013.
Susan holds an M.A. in Higher Education and Student Affairs from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in Communication Studies from Furman University.
Jetta Boschen
Media Relations
With an extensive background in Promotions/Marketing garnered at some of the world’s leading Consumer Product Companies, Ms. Boschen expanded her niche into the publicity arena representing an array of private and not-for-profit clientele. Boschen’s philanthropic endeavors are quite extensive, mainly focused in the cultural arts sector including The Joffrey Ballet and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Luca Morris
Research Intern
Luca Morris is a junior at the University of Michigan. He is pursuing a dual degree in Biomolecular Sciences and Creative Writing and Literature. Immersed in both research and various artistic endeavors, he is passionate about the various intersections between the science and arts communities. Luca joined DDP as an intern in Spring 2019.
Jason Smith
Technology and Digital Lead
Jason has over ten years of project management, design, and software development experience, overseeing digital and design project for small start ups. He arrived at his current position through a circuitous route through studying literature, working in publishing, literary magazines, and other such ventures.
Jenesis Williams
Intern
A junior in high school, Jenesis Williams is passionate about equality and the arts. She has studied classical ballet at the International Ballet Company for six years, and she has performed in excerpts from The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Coppelia, and more. She attended various ballet summer intensives, including a program at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She joined DDP as an intern in 2019.
