English Speaking Company 2023/2024 Season Programming Report

The English-Speaking Company 2023/2024 Season Programming Report represents the first-ever study examining season programming at ballet and classically influenced companies outside the United States.

“This report signifies a substantial expansion in the scope of our research, building upon insights from our previous international work, including the Global Leadership Report 2023 and the Global Resident Choreographers 2023 Data Byte,” said DDP Chief External Affairs Officer Isabelle Ramey. “The international dance industry is becoming increasingly interconnected. Artistic director searches reach across the globe, choreographers frequently work across country lines, and dancers relocate to entirely new time zones to pursue opportunities.”

This report focuses on 33 well-known companies from English-speaking regions including Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Philippines, the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales), Singapore, and South Africa. The report analyzes works presented in the current 2023/2024 performance season.

Among the 33 global companies studied, 23.6% of works in the 2023/2024 season are choreographed by women. “Again, we see the disparity of choreographic opportunities for men and women, this time on the international scale,” said DDP Founder & President Elizabeth ‘Liza’ Yntema. “The persistent lack of gender equity is not isolated to the United States, highlighting the need for research organizations like Dance Data Project® to assess classical dance throughout the world.”

When comparing companies based on geographic region, the two South African classically-based companies studied presented the highest percentage of works by women, with women choreographing 100.0% of the works recorded. Asian countries presented the least, with only 8.9% of works choreographed by women. 29.2% of works by Australian & New Zealand companies, 26.0% of works by Irish & UK companies, and 22.5% of works by Canadian companies were choreographed by women.

 “By comparison, the Largest 10 U.S. ballet companies – (which are of similar size and influence to the biggest classical dance companies reviewed in this report) programmed just 14.9% of works choreographed by women in the recent 2022/2023 season. Within the Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies, 22.9% of works for the 2022/2023 season (our most up to date data set) were choreographed by women.”

DDP Research Lead Jenna Magrath

Similar to previous U.S. findings, women continue to receive fewer opportunities to create full-length works than their male peers, internationally. This report found that only 14.1% of full-length works were choreographed by women globally for the current season, compared to 76.5% by men. For comparison: DDP’s most recent United States programming report found that, within the Largest 10, no full-length works by women were programmed for the 2022/2023 season. Within the Largest 50, for the same performance season, 25.0% of full-length world premieres were by women.

There are encouraging findings regarding the creation of new works: women choreographed 40.3% of world premieres among companies surveyed. In Ireland and the UK, 54.2% of world premieres were by women. In Australia & New Zealand, 45.5% of world premieres were by women. Of world premieres at Canadian and Asian companies, 23.8% and 20.0% respectively were by women. Compared to the U.S., 33.8% of world premieres by the Largest 10 U.S. companies and 40.6% within the Largest 50 were choreographed by women in the 2022/2023 season.

The English Speaking Company 2023/2024 Season Programming Report is available by download below.