DDP Research
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen rehearsing Kirsten Wicklund’s “The Subject is Overgrown”
Photo by Filip Van Roe
Data Bytes
As we expand our research and look into more and more spaces in which gender inequity persists in the dance industry, we want to share more information faster. To do that, our research team has developed Data Bytes, DDP’s “mini” reports designed to bring the latest customized metrics to our community through brief, easy-to-read formats. Happy reading!
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
AN EXAMINATION OF FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS
In late 2020, Dance Data Project® (DDP) joined a Consulting Projects Course for the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL) at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. MBA Candidate James Allwein, Bing Gao, and Megan Reichert joined DDP in an examination of the career trajectories of men vs. women who have participated in prestigious choreographic fellowship programs.
Research indicates that due to the scarcity of men at the more junior levels of dance, men face less competition for lead roles and have more leeway to pursue the creative aspects of dance over the more technical aspects. The applicant pool of fellowships is not transparent to the general public and historical data on fellowship recipients was not readily available, therefore more research is needed to gather data and study the career “funnel” of ballet artists and choreographers. The team produced a final presentation of findings, available below.
