DANCE DATA PROJECT® RELEASES SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT ON GLOBAL RESIDENT CHOREOGRAPHERS, EXPANDED TO 470 COMPANIES AND HIGHLIGHTING THE HIRING DISPARITY BETWEEN U.S.-BASED AND GLOBAL TRENDS

Northfield, IL | May 12th, 2026 | Dance Data Project® (DDP) announces the publication of its seventh annual examination of resident choreographers at dance companies. This year’s analysis is the third full report reviewing companies worldwide. The 2026 Global Resident Choreographers Report examines 300 U.S. and 170 international dance companies, for a total of 470 companies, adding 30 companies to those analyzed in 2025. For this seventh edition, DDP has included the newly expanded Largest 150 U.S. Contemporary and Modern Dance Companies.

Research Lead Junyla Silmon states, “This report is a welcome bit of good news in DDP reporting. Unlike the majority of our findings in other areas, the 2026 findings show promising overall representation of female resident choreographers worldwide.”

DDP identified 161 companies employing a total of 249 resident choreographers in 2026. Of these 249 resident choreographers, 120 are women (48.2%), 126 are men (50.6%), and 3 are gender expansive individuals (1.2%). From 2021 to 2026, there has been a consistent, gradual increase in the representation of female resident choreographers. In 2025, women accounted for 44.6% of resident choreographers. In 2024, women accounted for 43.7% of resident choreographers. In 2023, women accounted for 36.2% of resident choreographers. In 2022, women accounted for 31.6% of resident choreographers. In 2021, women accounted for 28.6% of resident choreographers.

A large portion of the newly examined companies in this report are smaller in budget size and derive from the contemporary and modern dance sector, both of which are industry areas where women leaders have historically dominated. As a result, the inclusion of these companies may have significantly contributed to the apparent rise in the share of female resident choreographers found in 2026.

Examination of the Largest 50 U.S. ballet and classically based companies (DDP’s original and most consistent sample) shows gains and losses toward gender equity. From 2024 (the peak of hiring female resident choreographers) to 2026, the number of female resident choreographers has fallen from 12 to 9, while the number of male resident choreographers has stayed the same at 11. Although both the number and percentage of female resident choreographers within the Largest 50 have declined for a second consecutive year from their 2024 peak, the gender equity gap year over year has narrowed to 5.0-10.0% over the last two years. This is a substantial improvement from the 27.0- 31.0% imbalance in representation that existed from 2021 to 2023.

The general trend towards gender parity of resident choreographers appears concentrated in the United States.

Among the 170 companies located outside of the U.S., DDP identified 37 ballet companies and 14 contemporary and modern dance companies with resident choreographers. Within the ballet sector, 29.7% of resident choreographers are women, an increase from 23.8% in 2025. Within the contemporary and modern dance sector, 40.0% of resident choreographers identified are women; this is a notable decrease compared to 2025, when 57.1% were women.

Based on available FY 2024 data, DDP sourced compensation information for 55 resident choreographers within the United States. The average compensation of the 55 resident choreographers is $74,498 (range $2,000 – $378,409). The median compensation is $59,052. DDP identified 19 male resident choreographers with an average compensation of $99,849 and a median compensation of $64,480. There are 35 female resident choreographers with an average compensation of $57,436 and a median compensation of $57,500. The gender identity of one resident choreographer was not reported.

In the analysis of partnerships between artistic directors and resident choreographers (including those with additional roles), all-male and all-female director-choreographer configurations increased, but collaborations with female resident choreographers increased in greater numbers. The most common relationships between artistic directors and resident choreographers in 2026 are male-to-female pairings and female-to-female pairings (24.0% each). This is a reversal from the 2025 report, where the most common pairing was a male artistic director with a male resident choreographer (25.9%).

The Largest 150 U.S. contemporary and modern dance companies have 20 female and 10 male founding artistic directors who also serve as resident choreographers. This is 1.4x more than the Largest 150 U.S. ballet companies, where there are 14 female and 7 male founding artistic directors who also serve as resident choreographers. No female founding artistic directors who also serve as resident choreographers have been identified within the 170 global companies examined.

Figure 1 shows how 2026 marks the most progress for U.S.-based female resident choreographers’ tenure. Female resident choreographers equal or outnumber men in every category of position tenure. 57.8% (26) of the resident choreographers in the U.S. who also hold another position with a tenure of 21+ years are women.

Figure 1: U.S. Resident Choreographer Tenure by Gender in 2026