DDP Research
Manassas Ballet Theatre rehearsing new work called “Love”
Photo by Cecile Wolfe Photography
2025 Research
Dance Data Project® provides metrics-based analysis to examine the gender distribution of artistic and administrative leadership in dance companies, venues, and organizations. Using publicly available information, DDP ranks national and international dance companies based on their annual financial reporting from the IRS and other sources. We encourage the dance community to be forthright in its policies and procedures to help advance our mission toward full gender equity. View our full Transparency and Methodology Statement here.
View the Largest 150 U.S Ballet Companies Ranking based on FY22 Expenditures here.
NOTE:
We do not provide the raw data for our studies. Here’s why:
1. Our data is proprietary. DDP has spent years and a massive amount of our budget collecting accurate statistics to create a growing data base.
2. DDP runs very lean. We do not have the time or resources to respond to requests for access to specific part of our data bank.
3. We work as hard as we can to ensure data accuracy and therefore must avoid the possibility of data corruption.
4. We cannot control how our research is used and/or if our name is attached, whether it is accurately reported/characterized.
2025 Global Resident Choreographers Report
Published on: 5/14/2025
This is DDP’s sixth annual Global Resident Choreographers Report, offering the most comprehensive data analysis to date on resident choreographer positions in the dance industry. Often overlooked yet critical, the role of resident choreographer provides both artistic and financial stability in a field where freelance labor is the norm.
This year’s report examined 440 dance companies—275 based in the U.S. and 165 internationally—an increase from 378 companies analyzed in 2024. For this sixth edition, DDP expanded the international sample and included the Largest 125 U.S. Contemporary and Modern Companies for the first time.
Global Leadership Report 2025
Published on: 4/1/2025
This report is DDP’s fourth annual report analyzing gender distribution among leadership at ballet and classically based companies worldwide. This year’s study expands upon previous findings by incorporating data on music directors and principal conductors for the first time, as well as providing a comprehensive analysis of artistic directors by continent.
The 2025 report examines 163 companies from 61 countries alongside the Largest 50 U.S. companies, bringing the total sample size to 213 companies.
2024 Global Festivals Report
Published on: 3/24/2025
This report is Dance Data Project® (DDP)’s inaugural report examining the gender equity of performance programming and Artistic Directors at international dance festivals. It builds upon DDP’s previous festival research, which primarily focused on U.S. festivals or a mix of U.S. and international festivals.
DDP’s 2023 U.S. Dance Festival Report, analyzed 39 festivals and 1007 works, while this report expands to 69 festivals and 1096 works, marking a significant increase in scope. Additionally, for the first time, DDP has tracked the number of times a piece was performed, offering deeper insight into programming trends beyond a simple count of unique works. By focusing exclusively on festivals based outside the U.S., this report establishes a foundation for ongoing analysis of global gender equity in dance festival programming.
2025 Performing Arts Center Leadership & Programming Report
Published on: 3/7/2025
This report demonstrates our latest findings on gender equity in performing arts programming and leadership for the 2023/2024 season, revealing that while women’s dance works made up a significant share of premieres and mixed-bill programs, women remain underrepresented in full-length productions, major venues, and leadership roles across 116 performing arts centers. This report is the latest in the ongoing venue examination series, which began with the 2020 Dance Venue Leadership & Programming Report, produced in collaboration with the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL) at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and led by DDP Advisory Council Member and former Board President Patrick Crocker during his time at the school.
DATA BYTE: Nutcracker and Holiday Productions 2023-2025
Published on: 2/10/2025
Dance Data Project® (DDP) has released its first report analyzing gender representation in choreography for The Nutcracker and other holiday productions. This mini report or “Data Byte” covers the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 seasons. The findings reveal an overwhelming dominance of male choreographers, particularly in the Largest 50 ballet companies, despite some growth in opportunities for female choreographers in mid-sized and smaller companies.
Season Overview 2023-2024
Published on: 1/24/2025
This report, our overview for the 2023/2024 season encompasses the latest findings analyzing the gender distribution of works presented among the Largest 150 U.S. ballet and classically influenced companies. For the first time, this report incorporates tracked performance data, providing valuable insights into the frequency at which works by women and men are performed. In the 2023/2024 season, women choreographed 30.6% of works presented by the Largest 150 companies. This represents a slight overall drop compared to the 2022/2023 season, where women accounted for 32.1% of all works presented by the Largest 150.
2024 Research
DATA BYTE: 2024+ Leadership Transitions
Published on: 12/23/2024
This is our fifth annual Leadership Transitions Data Byte, revealing significant gender disparities in leadership transitions within the dance industry. The data shows that from 2023 to 2024, overall artistic director appointments decreased. However, female artistic director appointments decreased by 36%, compared to a 7% decrease for male appointments.
Artistic and Executive Compensation Report 2024
Published on: 12/11/2024
This report is the sixth annual compensation study examining leadership pay at ballet and classically based companies in the United States. The report offers critical insights into pay equity among artistic and executive directors across the Largest 150 U.S. ballet companies, as well as trends in leadership compensation and notable disparities based on gender.
2024 Largest Contemporary and Modern Companies Report
Published on: 10/31/2024
This is Dance Data Project®‘s (DDP) third Largest Contemporary and Modern Companies Report. This year’s report covers 125 companies, an increase from the 75 companies included in 2023, marking a substantial expansion in DDP’s annual analysis of contemporary and modern dance companies.
Endowments and Building Book Value Report 2024
Published on: 9/30/2024
This is Dance Data Project®’s first report examining the endowments and building book values of dance companies in the U.S. This report fills a crucial gap in available research on endowments within the dance community, providing valuable insights into the financial foundations of ballet companies.
The Largest Ballet & Classically Based Companies Leadership Report 2024
Published on: 9/16/2024
This is Dance Data Project’s® sixth annual study examining the gender distribution of leadership at ballet and classically based companies in the United States. For the third year, DDP’s expanded leadership report examines the Largest 150 U.S. ballet companies and their gender distribution of Artistic Directors, Executive Directors, Associate/Assistant Directors, Heads of Schools, Heads of Second Companies, and Rehearsal Directors.
The Largest Ballet & Classically Based Companies 2024
Published on: 7/31/2024
This is Dance Data Project’s® sixth annual study of the Largest U.S. Ballet and Classically Based Companies. Following the precedent of previous reports, this report examines the financial scope of the Largest 150 U.S. ballet and classically based professional companies. These companies are divided into three categories: the Largest 50 (#1-50), the Next 50 (#51-100), and the Additional 50 (#101-150) companies for further analysis. This report is based on companies’ total expenditures from 990 filings from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the fiscal year ending 2022, includes preliminary data from FY 2023, and provides information on aggregate expenditures, each category’s contribution to the ballet economy, as well as changes from the previous years.
Global Leadership Report 2024
Published on: 6/12/2024
This report is the third annual study examining the gender distribution of leadership at ballet companies and classically based companies around the globe. This report examines the gender distribution of critical leadership positions including artistic directors, executive directors, assistant artistic directors, heads of schools, and artistic directors of second companies. DDP has also expanded to include rehearsal directors for the first time. This is DDP’s 34th report released since 2019.
2024 Global Resident Choreographers Report
Published on: 6/7/2024
This report is the fifth annual study examining resident choreographer positions across the globe. For the first year, this research has expanded beyond the previous four Data Bytes to become a full research report, a signal of DDP’s deepening understanding of the state of this important career milestone in the international dance industry. This year’s Global Resident Choreographer Report examines 225 domestic and 153 international dance companies for a total of 378 companies studied, an increase from 348 companies analyzed in 2023.
DATA BYTE: Women-Founded U.S. Ballet and Classically Based Companies 2024
Published on: 4/22/2024
In honor of the women shaping the dance industry, Dance Data Project® has compiled a listing of women-founded ballet and classically based professional companies in the United States. To the extent possible, DDP has reached out to the greater dance community to source female founders. We are, however, cognizant that there likely will be additional women and companies sourced going forward.
In this Data Byte, DDP has gathered information for 179 ballet companies founded or co-founded by women between 1929 and 2024. The Data Byte further distinguishes between currently active and defunct/inactive companies.
Choreographic Competitions and Fellowships Report 2024
Published on: 3/31/2024
This is Dance Data Project® (DDP)’s first report examining the gender distribution of choreographic competition winners and fellowship recipients between 2018 and 2023.
In this report, DDP examines 22 U.S. and international choreographic competitions and identifies 275 competition winners. Women account for only 32% of the total winners, with 89 female choreographers out of 275 winning choreographers. For each choreographic competition, the monetary value of each award and the number of winners associated with each award value from 2018 to 2023 is recorded. There are 16 monetary award values, each with an associated number of recipients. For 12 out of the 16 monetary award values men make up a larger percentage of recipients. Of the 148 recipients of monetary awards, only 42 recipients are women, or 28%.
English Speaking Company 2023/2024 Season Programming Report
Published on: 1/25/2024
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 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.
Data Byte: 2023+ Leadership Transitions
Published on: 1/9/2024
The 2023+ Leadership Transitions Data Byte is the fourth annual study of leadership changes at influential organizations within the international dance industry.
The report details changes among artistic directors, executive directors, resident choreographers, associate artistic directors, and school directors at international and U.S. based dance venues, dance festivals, ballet companies, contemporary/modern companies, and prominent schools/conservatories which occurred in 2023 or have been announced for 2024 and later.
2023 Research
2023 Artistic and Executive Compensation Report
Published on: 12/29/2023
This report is Dance Data Project’s® (DDP) fifth annual study examining compensation of artistic and executive director leadership at the Largest 150 ballet and classically based companies in the U.S. This is the second report analyzing compensation as it relates to company expenditure, and the first iteration of the report that expands to include other positions (e.g. school director, associate/assistant artistic directors) as well as deferred compensation, bonuses, and individuals still receiving compensation despite no longer being employed by organizations. Findings from this report are based on FY 2021 and FY 2022 financials.
2023 U.S. DANCE FESTIVALS REPORT
Published On: 12/18/2023
The 2023 U.S. Dance Festivals Report is the fourth Dance Data Project® report studying programming and artistic directorships at dance festivals and the first-ever that focuses on U.S.-based festivals. This year’s expanded coverage examined 39 U.S. festivals and increased the total number of works analyzed from 879 in 2021 to 1007 works analyzed today.
2023 Largest 75 U.S Contemporary and Modern Dance Companies
Published On: 11/8/2023
Dance Data Project® announces Part II of our second report analyzing the Largest U.S. contemporary and modern dance companies. For the first time, this report examines the financial scope of the Largest 75 U.S. contemporary and modern dance companies. This report ranks the companies within two categories: the Largest 50 (#1-50) and the Additional 25 (#51-75), thereby providing a comprehensive overview of the contemporary and modern dance industry. Part I of this report, The Largest U.S. Contemporary & Modern Dance Companies report, was released in June 2023. It examined the gender distribution of leadership among Artistic Directors, Company Founders, Executive Directors/CEOs/Managing Directors, Associate/Assistant Artistic Directors, and Rehearsal Directors across 127 U.S. contemporary and modern companies.
The Largest Ballet & Classically Based Companies Leadership Report
Published On: 10/5/2023
This is Dance Data Project® (DDP)’s fifth annual study examining the gender distribution of leadership at ballet and classically based companies in the United States. This is DDP’s second iteration of the report examining the Largest 150 companies. This report is the most comprehensive to date and represents a significant expansion in the depth of our analysis examining more critical leadership positions than ever before. Previously, DDP’s Leadership Report only examined the gender distribution of Artistic and Executive Directors, and Associate/Assistant Artistic Directors; this year’s report has expanded to include Heads of Schools, Heads of Second Companies, and Rehearsal Directors. The gender distribution of resident choreographers were previously examined in the Global Resident Choreographers 2023 Data Byte.
Season Overview 2022/2023
Published On: 8/21/2023
This Report represents Dance Data Project®’s fifth annual Season Overview report, which examines the gender distribution of choreographers in the 2022/2023 season among the Largest 150 Ballet and Classically Inspired Companies in the United States (based on FY 2020 expenditures). This is DDP’s second iteration of the report examining the Largest 150 companies, compared to only the Largest 50 companies in the past. DDP examines 1637 works in this report; a remarkable expansion from the first Season Overview report in 2019 where only 645 works were analyzed. DDP has also extended its research efforts to offer an in-depth analysis of the 2022/2023 Season Programming across the Largest 150 companies. Notably, this year’s report introduces the inclusion of “Company Premieres” in the analysis, as well as ranks companies within the Largest 50 based on the number of works by women for the very first time.
Among the Largest 150 companies, 23.9% of full-length works and 35.0% of mixed bill works were choreographed by women, indicating that works choreographed by women are more often presented in mixed rep programs instead of the more prestigious (and expensive) full evening works.
The Largest Ballet & Classically Based Companies
Published On: 8/7/2023
This is Dance Data Project®’s fifth and greatly expanded study of the largest US ballet and classically inspired companies. Following the precedent of the 2022 Report, the DDP research team ranks the financial scope of the Largest 150 US ballet and classically inspired companies. These companies are divided into three categories: the Largest 50 (#1-50), the Next 50 (#51-100), and the Additional 50 (#101-150) companies for further analysis. This report is based on companies’ total expenditures from 990 filings from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for fiscal year ending 2021, and provides information on aggregate expenditures, each category’s contribution to the ballet economy, as well as changes from the previous years.
The Largest U.S. Contemporary & Modern Dance Companies
Published On: 6/27/2023
The following is Dance Data Project®’s second report analyzing the Largest U.S. contemporary and modern dance companies. For the 2023 report, the DDP research team expanded beyond the Largest 50 U.S. contemporary and modern dance companies to include 127 dance companies total. This report examines the gender distribution of leadership among artistic directors, company founders, executive directors/CEOs/managing directors, associate/assistant artistic directors, and rehearsal directors across all 127 companies.
Data Byte: Global Resident Choreographers 2023
Published on: 5/16/2023
With this Data Byte, Dance Data Project® examines the role of resident choreographers at prominent dance companies for the fourth year annually. New additions to this year’s report include the Additional 50 U.S. Ballet & Classically Based Companies and an expanded global company sample. As a result, DDP analyzes 348 companies, a significant increase from the 270 companies previously studied.
Of the 348 companies examined, DDP identified 89 companies employing a total of 116 resident choreographers (an increase from 79 at 55 companies in 2022). Of the 116 resident choreographers, 42 are women (36%) and 74 are men (64%). In the 2022 study, DDP determined that women comprised 32% of resident choreographers and men comprised 68%. These findings indicate there has been little change in the gender distribution of resident choreographers between 2022 and 2023.
*Ballet Fantastique and Cathy Marston at Ballett Zürich reached out to DDP to clarify these respective companies’ resident choreographers. These are late additions; therefore, DDP has not changed the report’s data calculations. DDP acknowledges this omission and will be sure to include them in future iterations of the report.
Global Leadership Report 2023
Published On: 4/13/2023
Dance Data Project® announces the second Report analyzing the gender distribution of leadership at ballet companies around the globe. Companies included in this examination are those with roots in classical ballet that are professional performing companies, both in the U.S. and globally.
“The U.S. dance community does not exist in a silo. We’ve seen historically (and recently, with transitions at English National Ballet, Australian Ballet, and others) that leadership searches span national borders, languages, and cultures,” said DDP Communications Lead Isabelle Ramey. “We can gather a much fuller sense of the dance leadership ecosystem by zooming out to include companies from around the world in our research.”
For this report, DDP examined The Largest 50 U.S. ballet and classically influenced companies alongside 148 classically based professional performing companies from 57 countries around the world.
Data Byte: Full-Length World and United States Premieres 2018–2023
Published on: 2/17/2023
This is Dance Data Project®‘s (DDP) first Data Byte examining full-length world and United States premieres between 2018 and 2023 by the Largest 50 companies based on financial expenditure from FY 2020. Opportunities to create and stage full-length works for companies are important milestones in choreographers’ careers, as they require a large investment of company resources such as money, time with dancers, costumes, sets, and other creative team members.
2022 Research
DATA BYTE: 2022+ Leadership Transitions
Published on: 12/18/2022
The third annual Leadership Transitions Data Byte is a short form analysis that provides a detailed breakdown of role transitions for artistic directors, executive directors, associate artistic directors, and resident choreographers at dance venues, ballet companies, modern/contemporary companies, and prominent schools/conservatories which occurred in 2022 or have been announced for 2023 and later.
This report is an expansion from the Artistic Director Leadership Changes 2021+ Data Byte, which solely focused on artistic director transitions within dance companies. This year’s Data Byte also highlights directors who began as interim/acting directors and are now or will be promoted to a permanent leadership role between 2022 and 2024 (these directors are only counted once).
First Look 2022-2023
Published On: 12/5/22
Dance Data Project® has released the second full First Look report, examining the gender distribution of choreographers for the Largest 150 U.S. ballet and classically influenced companies in the current 2022-2023 season. Previously, the First Look report has been included as part of DDP’s Season Overview report. However, as DDP continues to expand our research from examining the Largest 50 companies to the Largest 150 companies, a second report was needed to include the most detailed findings.
Overall, DDP found that the Largest 150 companies are continuing to program more works choreographed by men, consistent with the past four seasons of research. Of 1075 announced works for the 2022-2023 season amongst the Largest 150 U.S. ballet and classically influenced companies, 27% are choreographed by women, which is a further reduction compared to the 2021-2022 season (29% choreographed by women).
When closely examining the types of programmed works, DDP found that only 21% of full-length works programmed for the 2022-2023 season by the Largest 150 companies are choreographed by women.
DATA BYTE: Artistic Director/Executive Director Compensation
Published on: 11/14/2022
Updated on: 6/19/2023
This Data Byte examines artistic & executive director reportable compensation increases (or decreases) in relation to the overall budget of the Largest 50 U.S. ballet and classically inspired companies. The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted the operations of many dance companies, and caused a wave of both cancellations and the furloughing of many dancers. This Data Byte takes an initial dive into the fiscal interactions between company budget and company leadership compensation from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2020.
Season Overview 2021-2022
Published On: 10/13/22
The following report 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.
2022 Dance Venue Leadership & Programming Report
Published On: 8/24/22
Dance Data Project®’s latest Dance Venue Leadership & Programming Report examines 73 leading ballet/classically inspired dance performance venues in the United States to provide quantitative analysis of the organizations’ programming and leadership equity. Programming data for these venues is collected from open sources (primarily venue and company websites) for the 10-month period from October 2021 through July 2022. This report is an extended and updated version of the original 2020 Dance Venue Leadership & Programming Report that was produced in collaboration with the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL) at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Artistic and Executive Leadership Report
Published On: 7/27/22
Dance Data Project®’s (DDP) fourth annual Artistic and Executive Leadership Report is the most comprehensive study to date. For the 2022 Report, the DDP research team produced two parts. The first, Largest 150 U.S. Ballet & Classically Based Companies & Financial Scope of the Industry, was published in June 2022 and listed the Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies, ordered by budget, as well as the Next 50 and an Additional 50 for a total of 188 companies surveyed to rank 150. The Largest 150 U.S. Ballet & Classically Based Companies & Financial Scope of the Industry also detailed the combined expenses of the Largest 50, Next 50, and Additional 50 and revealed that aggregate expenditures for the Largest 50 companies dropped by almost 12% from the previous year, totaling $586,724,176. The aggregate expenditures for the Next 50 totaled $44,519,966, almost 8% of the Largest 50 in FY 2020.
Largest 150 U.S. Ballet & Classically Based Companies & Financial Scope of the Industry
Published On: 6/30/22
The following is Dance Data Project®’s fourth annual and most comprehensive study to date of the largest U.S. ballet companies. For the 2022 Report, the DDP research team produced rankings by size not only for the Largest 50 and Next 50, but also an Additional 50, thus ranking a total of 150 U.S. ballet companies. The Largest 150 U.S. Ballet & Classically Based Companies & Financial Scope of the Industry Report gives information on the aggregate expenditures of all three groups, demonstrating the considerable economic contribution of the classical dance economy, as well as the significant disparity in size between the largest few companies and the rest.
DATA BYTE: CONNECTING THE DOTS 2022 UPDATE – #YESTHISISANARTSSTORY
Published on: 5/1/2022
Connecting the Dots is an ongoing campaign by DDP to advocate for the acknowledgment of the pandemic’s effect on women in the arts by policy makers, journalists, and funding organizations. DDP’s April 2021 databyte sourced over 60 articles and studies to reflect the generational suffering of women at the expense of COVID 19’s global impact. This year’s Data Byte dives deeper into this narrative, highlighting the pandemic’s even stronger hold on women as men have now completely recouped all their workforce losses.
2021 U.S. Dance Festivals Report
Published On: 3/14/22
This Report, DDP’s third annual report on dance festivals, shows that women choreographed 48% of the works programmed at the dance festivals sampled. The percentages of live works and world premieres choreographed by women, however, are both lower, 38% and 36% respectively, indicating that women remain less likely to receive the most coveted types of commissions.
The Report also shows that 69% of the sampled festivals were led by women in the role of artistic director or equivalent, and that the festivals led by women had on average a higher gender equity score in performance programming than the festivals led by men (0.49 compared to 0.38), meaning that festivals led by women are more likely to program works choreographed by women.
Collegiate Dance Programs Faculty and Administration Report
Published On: 2/15/22
Dance Data Project® enters the world of academia with this Report focused on gender equity among faculty and administrators at degree-granting collegiate dance programs. This Report explores the post secondary academic world of dance, analyzing the gender distribution of faculty, their positions, and their level of academic achievement. The Report also examines the gender distribution of academic administrators overseeing the dance programs, those faculty members whose policies and power directly impact the lives of faculty, from master’s candidates to full professors.
The Report analyzes 781 full-time and 819 part-time dance faculty positions, as well as 224 administrative positions at 173 public and private degree-granting collegiate dance programs in the U.S.. It shows that women clearly outnumber men in dance faculty, and women also hold advanced degrees (master’s or doctoral) at a higher rate than men. However, within those holding advanced degrees, a higher percentage of the men occupy full-time positions. Men are also more likely to hold the prestigious role of dean than women.
Global Resident Choreographers Data Byte 2022
Published on: 1/25/2022
With this Data Byte, Dance Data Project® examines the role of resident choreographers at prominent dance companies for the third year annually. For the first time, this research analyzes 270 companies, a significant increase from the 143 companies previously studied.
2021 Research
Global Ballet Leadership Report
Published On: 12/09/21
For this study, Dance Data Project® compiled a list of 125 ballet companies, supplemented by DDP’s list of the Largest 50 U.S. Ballet Companies, which is updated annually and published in the Artistic and Executive Leadership Report. Together, this is a sample of 175 ballet companies from 56 countries, representing the most prominent ballet companies around the world. To combat the Eurocentrism of ballet and DDP’s own bias as a U.S.-based organization, additional time was given to researching ballet companies in Asia, Africa, South America, and Central America. DDP advisors were also consulted to provide as complete a survey as possible.
The Report’s key findings include:
- Of 179 artistic directors of major ballet companies, 59 are women (33%), while 119 are men (66%), and 1 is gender expansive (0.6%).
- Similarly, of artistic directors of the Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies, there are 15 women (29%) and 36 men (71%).
- Of the artistic directors at the largest 26 ballet companies globally, each with 75+ dancers, 9 are women (35%) and 17 are men (65%).
- In each of the years 2018 – 2021, men have accounted for the majority of newly appointed artistic directors.
- Three of the seven announced new artistic directors for 2022 and later are women (43%), a higher rate than any of the years 2018 – 2021. (Subject to change as more transitions are announced for 2022, 2023, and 2024.)
Artistic Director Leadership Changes 2021+
Published on: 12/09/2021
This Data Byte details artistic director changes at ballet companies globally which occurred in 2021 or have been announced for 2022 and later. The highlighted rows indicate companies which have announced the departure of their artistic director but have not named a successor as of December 6, 2021.
Companies are grouped by year of leadership change and ordered categorically by size and then alphabetically by name.
A version of this Data Byte was also published as the Appendix in DDP’s Global Ballet Leadership Report. To learn more about the data and report methodology, view the Global Ballet Leadership Report.
Largest 50 U.S. Contemporary and Modern Dance Companies
Published On: 10/5/21
This Report expands the scope of Dance Data Project®’s research to examine, for the first time, the largest U.S. contemporary and modern dance companies. Past research by Dance Data Project® (DDP) has examined various aspects of the dance industry with a lens of gender equity, including leadership and programming at the largest ballet companies, dance festivals, venues presenting dance, and more. This is DDP’s first study which explicitly looks at contemporary and modern dance companies.
The Report finds that the Largest 50 U.S. contemporary and modern dance companies operated with aggregate expenses of about $150 million in fiscal year 2019. For context, in the same year, the Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies operated with aggregate expenses of about $664 million, showing an extreme disparity in available resources.
The Report also shows the even gender distribution of current Artistic Directors at the Largest 50 U.S. contemporary and modern dance companies (50% women and 50% men), as well as the gender distribution of company founders (54% women and 46% men), and the average age of companies (37 years).
SEASON OVERVIEW: 2020-2021
Published On: 8/30/21
The following Report is Dance Data Project® (DDP)’s third annual Season Overview Report and analyzes the works programmed by the Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies between August 2020 and August 2021, specifically focusing on the gender distribution of choreographers.
DDP found, for the third consecutive year, that the majority of work was choreographed by men. Men choreographed 69% of the works programmed in the 2020-2021 season, a slight decrease from 72% in the previous season and 81% the season before. In comparison, women choreographed 27% of works, and 4% of works were choreographed by co-choreographers of different genders and/or gender non-conforming choreographers.
Encouragingly, programmed works by women have increased by 10% since DDP’s first Season Overview Report, which analyzed the 2018-2019 season.
The Report also analyzes the number of individual choreographers and groups of co-choreographers whose work was programmed in the 2020-2021 season. DDP recorded 447 unique choreographers/groups of co-choreographers, of whom 60% were men. The two choreographers whose work was programmed by the largest number of companies were George Balanchine and Marius Petipa.
Artistic Director History Data Byte
Published on: 7/22/2021
Dance Data Project® (DDP) presents Data Byte: Artistic Director History, a mini-report providing a breakdown of the gender distribution in artistic leadership among the 50 companies who comprise DDP’s 2021 Largest 50 US Ballet Companies. The data for the mini-report was sourced from company websites, news articles, and press releases and is the first Report from DDP to examine gender distribution in US ballet companies as far back as company foundings.
Artistic and Executive Leadership Report
Published On: 6/10/21
The following Report is the third annual Dance Data Project® Artistic and Executive Leadership Report and the most comprehensive study to date. For the 2021 Report, the research team produced two parts. The first, Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies and Scope of the Industry, was published in May 2021. This second Report examines the leadership positions at the Largest 50 and Next 50 U.S. ballet companies and compares the number of men and women in the roles, as well as their respective compensation. The Report goes further to give year-by-year comparisons and further insight into the highest compensated employees at the ballet companies with the largest operating budgets.
note: Please note that this Nota Bene was updated June 30, 2021 to reflect the most recent available data and to clarify the difference between calendar year and fiscal year.
Largest 50 U.S. Ballet Companies & Scope of the Industry
Published On: 5/12/21
Dance Data Project®‘s newest report contains the annual rankings of the Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies and goes further to produce, for the first time, a secondary list of the “Next 50” U.S. ballet companies. The Report gives information on the aggregate expenditures of both groups, demonstrating the considerable scope of the ballet industry as well as the significant disparity in size between the largest few companies and the many smaller ones.
In prior years DDP has produced an annual Artistic & Executive Leadership Report, which has established the Largest 50 sample and utilized it to explore the scope of the ballet industry and equity in leadership. In 2021, due to the expanding size of our dataset, DDP will be producing this research in two parts. This first report encompasses the Largest 50 and scope of industry, and a second report will be issued on leadership.
Data Byte: Connecting the Dots- #YesThisIsAnArtsStory
Published 4/1/21
Connecting the Dots is an ongoing campaign by DDP to advocate for the acknowledgement of the pandemic’s effect on women in the arts by policy makers, journalists, and funding organizations. The campaign features over 60 articles and studies, reflecting the generational set-backs that women across the globe face as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. This Data Byte is a compilation of the most salient facts from the campaign, available for download and easy to read and share.
Global Resident Choreographer Survey 2021
Published on: 3/2/2021
DDP’s annual Global Resident Choreographer Survey comes in the form of a mini-report this year. As always, our team has focused on the gender distribution resident choreographers at leading domestic and international ballet companies. This year, we examined 64 resident choreographer positions at 75 United States and 68 international ballet companies for a total of 143 companies. Want to see the year-to-year comparison? Download our Notes and Limitations document for some additional context and insight.
Please be advised that DDP reviewed the current status of some of the positions included in aggregate calculations following the publication of this report. The Data Byte and Notes and Limitations reflect the amended findings as of March 31, 2021.
Top 50 Affiliate Ballet Schools 2020
Published on: 2/8/2021
How many students attend ballet school in the United States annually? At the ballet schools affiliated with the largest 50 ballet companies in the country, DDP estimates that 35,950 students are in attendance, vying for an ultra-competitive spot within leading company ranks.
This study breaks down DDP’s preliminary research on the 45 schools affiliated with these companies. The figures display the gender distribution of school directors as well as titled faculty and faculty without titles at these 45 schools. DDP also provides an analysis of the schools based on their size (largest to smallest annual expenses). DDP sources information from ballet school websites and publicly-released Forms 990 obtained via the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer for this latest Data Byte.
2020 Dance Festival Gender Equity Report
Published On: 1/25/21
Dance Data Project® ‘s 2020 Dance Festival Gender Equity Report examines the gender distribution of programming and leadership among 2020 festivals and includes a comparative analysis of 2019 and 2020 findings. Some key findings include:
- Women choreographed 48% of world premieres commissioned by the festivals that were held in 2020 and sampled by DDP.
- There were a total of 48 top leaders listed by the 37 festivals that listed a leader, and 65% of them were women in 2020. 57% of festivals had exclusively-female leaders in 2020.
- The mean Equity Score for the 10 festivals examined by DDP that programmed works in both 2019 and 2020 was .33 (33% of works were choreographed by women). The median Equity Score was .27.
Leadership Changes 2020
Published on: 1/6/2021
While more data is needed to draw comprehensive conclusions about universal hiring practices in the industry, DDP’s inaugural Data Bytes report, 2020 Leadership Changes – Our End of the Year Mini Report on Comings and Goings in the Industry, provides a snapshot of the hiring trends among a cohort of dance organizations that have announced the departures or new appointments of leading staff in 2020.
Information in this document was sourced from Courtney Escoyne’s monthly articles for Dance Magazine entitled “News of Note: Everything You Might Have Missed in [Month, Year].” The articles include a section of announced Comings & Goings, which DDP recorded, verified, and aggregated to develop the metrics shared in our first Data Byte.
2020 Research
2019-2020 Season Overview
Published On: 7/30/20
The 2019-2020 Season Overview is a statistical examination of choreographer gender within the seasons of the Top 50 U.S. companies. This year’s report indicates a significant increase in programming equity from last year, but men remain favored in almost every category. Some of the report’s key findings include:
- 72% of works in the 2019-2020 seasons are choreographed by men.
- 62% of programs in the 2019-2020 seasons featured work choreographed exclusively by men.
- 55% of world premieres in the 2019-2020 seasons are choreographed by men.
- 83% of full-length world premieres in the 2019-2020 seasons are choreographed by men.
2020 Artistic and Executive Leadership Report
Released on 3/31/2020
Dance Data Project® today released its 2020 “Artistic and Executive Leadership Report.” Released on National Equal Pay Day, the report shows persistent inequity in pay among artistic directors of the “Top 50” U.S. ballet companies.
Dance Venues Leadership and Programing Report
Published on 2/04/2020
Dance Data Project®’s latest report, the first of 2020 and produced in collaboration with the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL) at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, examines 50 leading ballet performance venues in the United States to provide quantitative analysis of the organizations’ programing and leadership equity. Of note: venue leadership was found to be consistently equitable among venues of varying sizes (large, medium and small capacity), with approximately 45% of leadership positions held by women.
Global Resident Choreographer Survey
Published on: 1/20/20
DDP examined 69 U.S.-based and 47 international ballet companies for a total sample size of 116 companies. Thirty-seven of the 116 companies surveyed employ a resident choreographer. Of those, 76 percent have exclusively men in the position.
2019 Research
Spring/Summer Dance Festival Gender Equity Report
Published on: 9/24/19
The following is a report on the gender distribution of the leadership and programming of spring/summer dance festivals in 2019. The data is separated into three subsections: Leadership, Programming, and Festival v. Top 50 Company Comparison. DDP cites sources and expresses limitations at the end of the report.
2018-2019 Season Overview
Published on: 7/24/19
The following is a report on the gender distribution of repertoire within the Top 50 domestic companies’ 2018-2019 seasons. The data is separated into three subsections: Gender Distribution in Seasonal Repertoire, World Premieres, and Comparison of 2018-2019 Seasons to 2019-2020 Seasons. DDP cites sources and expresses limitations at the end of the report.
© DDP 2019
Boards of Directors & Trustees Analysis
Published on: 6/25/19
The following is a report on the gender distribution of leaders within the Top 50 domestic companies’ Boards of Directors and Boards of Trustees. The data is separated into two subsections: Chair Gender Distribution and Executive Committee Gender Distribution. DDP cites sources and expresses limitations at the end of the report.
© DDP 2019
“First Look” New Season Report
Published on: 5/29/19
The following is a report on the gender distribution of choreographers in the upcoming seasons of the fifty largest ballet companies in the United States that have been reported so far this year (38 out of 50 as of May 23, 2019). The data is separated into subsections, focusing on different aspects of the distribution of male and female choreographic work included in the upcoming seasons. DDP cites sources and discusses limitations and important disclaimers at the end of the report.
Amendment – Please Note: There was an error in DDP’s reporting of the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s 2019-2020 Season. This error had no impact on statistics and conclusions reported in the 2019 “First Look” report. According to ASFB’s 2019 press releases for its 2019-2020 Winter Performance Series in both Aspen and Santa Fe, there were 6 works programmed, all choreographed by men. Further note: DDP will count “The Nutcracker” twice in programming (i.e., total of 7 works) as it appeared in two separate seasons programmed independently (once in the Aspen Winter Performance Series, once in the Santa Fe Winter Performance Series) in our 2019-2020 Season Overview, which reexamines the announced seasons included in the 2019 “First Look” report.
© DDP 2019
Executive & Artistic Leadership Report
Published on: 2/19/19
The DDP research team collected and refined data from GuideStar, a privately-operated website that provides profiles for 1.8 million IRS-recognized tax-exempt organizations. DDP analyzed the average compensation for Executive and Artistic Directors of leading domestic ballet companies from 2015 through 2017, and distribution of gender from 2015 through 2018.
Called the Top 50 by DDP, these companies were those that had the largest expenses as of October 2018, according to their most recent Forms 990, which can be found on GuideStar profiles. In early February, DDP will be publishing the results of this recent research via a report released on our website.
The DDP research calendar (seen below), notes future report releases and details of their contents.
Note: Dance Data Project®’s original research and analysis found on this website is published with reservation of all rights. We welcome republication of our statistics and analysis, provided that proper attribution and credit is given DDP and (where individually identified) its personnel. Audio, video and digital image content may not be reused or republished for any purpose without the express written consent of DDP. Please email admin@dancedataparoject.com should you have any questions concerning the foregoing.
Research Highlights
Don’t have time to read our reports? Read DDP’s Highlights document to inform yourself on our most important findings from reports in the past at the links below.
Academic Inspiration
Below, see several articles and studies that serve as inspiration and support for our own research and advocacy.
Published by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the following article, by four female academics, Vicki W. Kramer, Alison M. Konrad, Sumru Erkut, and Michele J. Hooper, details the benefits of including women on corporate boards of directors: Critical Mass on Corporate Boards: Why Three or More Women Enhance Governance.
Another by Professor Sumru Erkut, the following research was conducted to examine why there are so few women leading theaters in America: Women’s Leadership in Resident Theaters. The article brings to mind a recent headline in the Houston Chronicle, Houston theater companies are producing titles with more women and women of color. Important progress needs to be made to bring women to the helm of companies in both theater and dance.
Published in the New York Times, the following OpEd by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant discusses the inadmissible silencing of women when they attempt to give feedback, act as leaders, or voice opinion in many professional situations: Speaking While Female.
Currently undertaking a research project that looks beyond funding, Melanie Doerner seeks answers to deeper questions of sustainable business model for arts organizations. Doerner is a trained attorney, advocate for change, and proven arts leader with 16 years of nonprofit experience. She is currently studying the habits and business practices of arts organizations in an attempt to identify and understand the sustainable business model(s) for regional theatre and ballet companies.
The Harvard Business Review, similarly, published Professor Catherine Tinsley and Robin Ely’s insight on misinterpretations of differences between men and women and perceptions of both in the workplace: What Most People Get Wrong About Men and Women.
Also from Harvard, this time from the Law School, the special report Real Leaders Negotiate: Understanding the Difference between Leadership and Management breaks down gender differences in negotiation styles. Professors John Rizzo of Stony Brook University and Richard Zeckhauser of Harvard University asked a group of young physicians about their reference groups and salary aspirations and found that men often compare themselves to those of a reference group with higher salaries than the groups women to which women compare themselves. More of the study’s findings and comparable studies can be found here.
Commissioned by the Australian Council for the Arts, Associate Professor Elaine Lally and Professor Sarah Miller of the University of Wollongong in New South Wales published a report entitled Women in theatre: A research report and action plan for the Australian Council for the Arts. The professors’ work “gathers together quantitative and qualitative information on the continuing gender disparities, and attempts to identify structural barriers and potential levers for addressing entrenched inequalities.” Their study is available here.
By Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, Angel Choi, and Dr. Katherine Pieper, Inclusion in the Director’s Chair: Gender, Race and Age of Directors Across 1,200 Top Films from 2007 to 2018 reveals some remarkable metrics (as well as graphics that beautifully capture the team’s findings) related to diversity and inclusion in film. The team assessed the C-suites, boards of directors, and executive teams of samples across 300 of the highest-grossing films within their studied time-frame. Particularly interesting to DDP were the positions in which gender and diversity proportions fell “below the line” – that is to say those positions were largely filled by white men. Read the full study here.
Artists and Other Cultural Workers: A Statistical Portrait, a study commissioned by the National Foundation for the Arts, “Builds a cohesive statistical summary of artists and other cultural workers in the United States. In doing so, it complements the National Endowment for the Arts’ regular measurements of two other key segments of the arts ecosystem: arts industries and organizations, and levels of arts participation nationwide.” Its key findings include highlight the importance of pay equity and support for the artistic workforce: “Artists are 3.6 times as likely as other workers to be self-employed,” and they are also “becoming a larger share of the U.S. labor force.” Armed with this knowledge, the ballet industry must prioritize equitable practice to support the large proportion of its workers who are independent contractors living without stable income.
In the case of financial reporting, which results in our ranking of dance companies, we provide a summary of overall size of the industry and compensation of artistic and executive leadership:
- We use proprietary software to process e-filings gathered directly from the IRS, where possible. We then cross-reference the results against previous reports and other third-party databases to ensure the accuracy and efficacy of the software results.
- Our research team directly records information from IRS annual filings. DDP research team members then review and verify each other’s work to ensure data quality and proper statistical analysis.
- We reach out directly to the dance companies to verify the information provided in the rankings.
In the case of reporting on season programming, for the First Look and the Season Overview Reports we:
- Examine company websites for announced programming.
- Review press releases.
- Examine websites and other social media accounts regarding changes, smaller black box programming and special initiatives like galas, dance films, appearance at festivals, etc.
- Reach out directly to the dance companies to verify the information provided in this research for season reports.
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To expand our Global Leadership Report, we’re hoping to incorporate additional international companies, particularly those from Asia and Africa. Check out our current list of global companies here.
If we’re missing something, let us know by emailing Research Coordinator Jenna Magrath at jmagrath@dancedataproject.com with your submission.
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Thanks to Amy Seiwert & Joseph Copley, for their groundbreaking work counting the number of women commissioned in the 2012-2013 season and to the women of the Gender Project: JoAnna Mendl Shaw, Janis Brenner, Ellis Woodand and Heidi Latsky. The Gender Project is a collective that gathered data, participated in panels and created work geared towards changing the face of gender preference in the dance world.
Tell Us About Your Company/Project
Dance Data Project® encourages organizations to submit information about programming and initiatives that promote gender equity in classical dance. Help us promote you! Send us your latest news, photos, videos featuring female artists and we’ll feature them on the site. We are also looking for guest writers on our blog, so if you would like to write a piece for us, let us know!
