GENDER PARITY IN DANCE: DDP TRACKS MILESTONES AND SETBACKS IN LARGEST 150 BALLET AND CLASSICALLY BASED COMPANIES 2023/2024 SEASON
Northfield, IL | January 27, 2025 | Dance Data Project® (DDP) has released its latest findings analyzing the gender distribution of works presented in the 2023/2024 season 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.
This report highlights gender disparities in programming, offering a critical understanding of representation in the dance industry. By providing longitudinal metrics, DDP is demonstrating the need for a more interesting and equitable dance sector at a time when audiences are both aging and shrinking.“The findings of this report illustrate both the progress being made and the systemic challenges that remain in achieving gender equity within the dance industry,” said Elizabeth ‘Liza’ Yntema, DDP President and Founder. “While it is heartening to see an increase in world premieres by women, particularly full-length works, the data makes clear that the most financially robust companies are not doing enough to support female choreographers. We need to push for more intentional investment in equitable representation.”
A key finding: within the Largest 10 companies, only 14.6% of works staged were choreographed by women, a decline from the 2021/2022 season where 14.9% of works shown were choreographed by women. Conclusion: despite their considerable financial capacity (combined expenditures of $380,115,421 in FY 2022, representing 52.9% of the Largest 150’s aggregate budget by expenditure) the Largest 10 ballet companies continue to severely restrict opportunities for female choreographers. Within the Largest 50, 23.1% of works were choreographed by women, highlighting that smaller, less resourced companies are providing greater opportunities to female choreographers.
Some positive news, however: the percentage of world premieres (of any length) choreographed by women among the Largest 150 rose to 48.8% in the 2023/2024 season, compared to 46.7% in the previous season. DDP also notes a welcome trend in full-length world premieres. In the 2023/2024 season, 32.2% of the 80 full-length works were choreographed by women, reflecting an increase from 31.3% in the 2022/2023 season and 22% in the 2021/2022 season. This is a notable development, as full-length world premieres necessitate a significant commitment of company resources, and more companies are investing in female choreographers.
In the 2023/2024 season, the Largest 10 presented two full-length premieres—one choreographed by a woman and the other by a man. This marks the first time since the 2019/2020 season that a company within the Largest 10 has commissioned a full length premiere by a woman choreographer – Aszure Barton’s Mere Mortals commissioned by San Francisco Ballet. In the 2022/2023 season, within the Largest 10, there was one full-length world premiere presented, choreographed by a man. The 2021/2022 season included only one full-length world premiere among the Largest 10, which was co-choreographed by a mixed-gender team. Prior to the pandemic in the 2019/2020 season, there were two full-length world premieres by the Largest 10; one choreographed by a woman and the other by a man.
In a crucial addition to season programming research, for the first time DDP has tracked data on number of performances per work, determining that during the 2023- 2024 season, works choreographed by women were performed an average of 3.9 times, compared to works choreographed by men, which were performed an average of 4.8 times. This discrepancy underscores the disparity in visibility and likely compensation between male and female choreographers.
The dominance of male choreographers remains evident. For example, George Balanchine’s work was featured by 41 companies across 61 programs in the 2023/2024 season. This closely mirrors the previous season, where his works were presented by 41 companies across 70 programs, reaffirming the enduring influence of male-dominated repertory.
Jenna Magrath, DDP’s Research Lead, noted, “Tracking performance data for the first time this season has given us a more nuanced understanding of how gender impacts choreographic opportunities. While 32.2% of full-length world premieres in 2023/2024 were choreographed by women, 80.8% of non-premiere works performed by the Largest 50 companies were choreographed by men. If the ‘canon’ is all male – whether it’s Balanchine, Ashton or McMillan – and most of the full length works commissioned are awarded to male choreographers, then clearly discrepancies will persist. It’s time to re-examine and resurrect works by women, such as Nijinksa, just as museums and orchestras have undertaken concerted efforts to platform female composers and painters.”
The 2023/2024 Season Overview Report is available for download on the Dance Data Project® Research Page.
