ABT Women’s Movement Supported by DDP Founder

By Isabelle Vail

17 October 2018

The American Ballet Theatre Women’s Movement has committed to commission three female choreographers for the next three years. For the fall 2018 season, the company is presenting works of four women.

These choreographers are Michelle Dorrance, Lauren Lovette, Twyla Tharp, and Jessica Lang.

Dorrance returns to ABT with a world premiere for the main company. Ms. Lovette, a principal dancer for New York City Ballet, stages Le Jeune, a work she created in 2017, for the ABT Studio Company. In the Upper Room by Tharp, a fan and dancer favorite with its unmistakeable red pointe shoes and striped costumes, will again be featured by the company beginning with the Gala on October 17th. A new work by Jessica Lang, entitled “Garden Blue,” will also run from October 17th until the 28th.

Mentioned in ABT’s press release announcing the initiative to support women choreographers was DDP’s founder, Elizabeth Yntema. In the spirit of DDP’s mission of informing equity, Yntema has spent years urging company and community leaders to give women a chance on major stages and in major productions. Ballet Theatre has listened, becoming the first leading company in the world to do so, and remains one of DDP’s most steadfast supporters during our recent database expansion and 501(c)(3) application.

Along with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Yntema is bringing ballet one step closer to equity through support of the Women’s Movement. We at DDP could not be more excited to see the amazing work created by these commissioned women choreographers on the world stage.