95 Of 128 Directors At Largest Ballet Schools Are Women, Yet Men Are More Likely To Hold Dual Artistic Leadership Roles, DDP’s First 2026 Study Finds

Northfield, IL | February 23, 2026 | Dance Data Project® today releases its first- ever Ballet School Leadership Data Byte, which examines the gender distribution of leadership within ballet schools affiliated with the Largest 150 Ballet & Classically Based Companies.

“This is DDP’s kickoff study of 2026 and represents an exciting expansion for DDP, as it is our first examination of the gender distribution of school directors within the Largest 150 ballet companies’ affiliated schools,” says Elizabeth “Liza” Yntema, DDP’s Founder and President. She continues, “School directors play a critical role in shaping future dancers, choreographers, and leaders of the industry, and therefore warrant deeper investigation.”

The report finds that of 128 School Directors across 118 affiliated schools, 95 are women and 33 are men. DDP also examined tenure length, which is nearly identical between men and women — 11.64 years for women and 12.01 years for men. The Data Byte also highlights that Youth Division Directors are 92.9% women, and Pre- Professional Division Directors are 70.5% women.

Of particular note: Of the four male School Directors within the Largest 10 companies, 2 or 50%, also lead the affiliated professional companies, whereas none of the seven female School Directors do.

This key finding highlights disparities that emerge in the examination of dual leadership roles: 45% of male School Directors also serve as the Artistic Director of the affiliated professional company, compared to 28.4% of female School Directors. Men also hold a larger percentage of school director positions among the Largest 50 (36.4%) in comparison to the Next and Additional 50 (31.9% and 25%, respectively).

Data from 2023–2025 shows male hires increasing and approaching parity with female appointments, raising questions about future gender balance in these roles (see DDP’s 2025+ Leadership Transitions Data Byte). External Communications Lead Nancy Dobbs Owen notes, “We at DDP are just getting started – the clear increase in the hiring of men into school directorships at the larger companies immediately begs the question: how will this trend affect the overall gender distribution of School Directors and by extension, Artistic Directors, Resident Choreographers, and choreography commissions in the coming years? Our upcoming compensation reports will provide more clarity into whether compensation of Artistic Directors rises as men begin to take over affiliated ballet schools.”

The Ballet School Leadership Data Byte is available for download on the Dance Data Project® Research Page.