Season Overview 2021-2022

This is Dance Data Project® (DDP)’s fourth annual Season Overview Report and analyzes the gender distribution of choreographers programmed by the largest 150 U.S. ballet and classically inspired companies between August 2021 and August 2022. This report is DDP’s most expansive to date and examines the Largest 150 U.S. ballet and classically influenced companies, compared to only the Largest 50 in previous reports.

Overall, DDP found that within the Largest 150 ballet and classically inspired companies, companies programmed far more works by men, which is consistent with the previous three reports surveying the Largest 50. In the 2021-2022 season, 29% of all works recorded in the Largest 150 companies were choreographed by women. DDP determined that in the Largest 50 classically inspired companies, 66% of works programmed were choreographed by men, versus the 2020-2021 season in which men choreographed 69% of works in the 2020-2021 season, 71% and 81% in 2019-2020 and 2018-2019 respectively. DDP found that the Largest 50 programmed 27% of works by women, representing no change from the 2020-2021 season. The Additional 50, across all metrics, outperformed the Largest and Next 50 companies and programmed more works by women. The Next 50 programmed more women-choreographed works than the Largest 50, with the exception of mixed bill world premieres where both groups programmed the same percentage of women choreographed works (50%).
53% percent of world premieres were choreographed by women. However, DDP determined that 51% of mixed-bill world premieres, but only 22% of full-length world premieres were choreographed by women. While a positive and encouraging trend regarding mixed bill works, women are receiving fewer opportunities to premiere larger, more prestigious full-length works than their male counterparts. Additionally, as DDP looked deeper towards longevity of careers, and artistic directors selecting women’s work to showcase/platform, only 21% of non-premiere works that were presented in previous seasons were choreographed by women, highlighting companies’ lack of persistent effort to continue programming women choreographed work into future seasons.