LARGEST 150 U.S. BALLET & CLASSICALLY BASED COMPANIES LEADERSHIP REPORT FINDS ONLY 41% OF U.S. ARTISTIC DIRECTORS ARE FEMALE; MEN RECEIVE NEARLY TWICE AS MANY APPOINTMENTS WORLDWIDE
Northfield, IL | September 17th, 2025 | Dance Data Project® (DDP) today publishes its seventh annual Largest 150 U.S. Ballet & Classically Based Companies Leadership Report, examining gender distribution across leadership roles at the nation’s largest ballet and classically based companies. This is the fourth iteration to analyze the full Largest 150, reflecting leadership positions as of August 20, 2025, and, for the first time, expanding its scope to include music directors and principal conductors.
The Largest 150 U.S. Ballet & Classically Based Companies Leadership Report is sourced from DDP’s annual ranking of the Largest 150 Ballet and Classically Based Companies, measured by total expenditure. In fiscal year 2023, the companies studied operated with a combined total of $830,181,580.
Of the 155 artistic directors across the Largest 150, 63 are women, representing 40.6 percent of leadership in this category. Representation has improved in the Largest 10 companies, now with four women artistic directors–double 2022 and four times 2021–though the Largest 50 companies show little change since 2018. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of women artistic directors increased from 11 to 12 within the Largest 50 companies, meaning that within the Largest 50, men hold three times more artistic director positions versus women.
Key finding: analysis of artistic director new appointments in the U.S. reveals that the most common type of change in leadership is from a female to a male (17 shifts), followed by male-to-male shifts (15). Female-to-female and male-to-female shifts are less frequent, with 12 each. These patterns indicate that when artistic director positions become available, women are still less likely to be hired, regardless of the gender of their predecessor.
“The increased representation of women in the Largest 10 companies is encouraging, but the overall numbers, particularly in artistic director appointments, show that the playing field remains far from level, particularly since the Largest 50 companies–which account for nearly 89 percent of sector expenditures–have seen little change since 2018,” said Bailey Walker, Report Lead and DDP Archivist. She expanded, “Our inclusion of music directors and principal conductors for the first time this year also exposes the starkest imbalance, with women making up less than 20 percent of these roles.”
Executive leadership shows greater gender equity: 67 of 116 executive directors (57.8%) are women. Women also hold nearly three-quarters of head of school roles, 60% of rehearsal director positions, and parity in second company director roles. This continues a trend of greater gender equity on the administrative side of leadership compared to the artistic side.
Between 2021 and 2025, 26 women and 33 men were appointed as artistic directors in the United States. However, in 2025 to date, only one woman has been appointed to an artistic director role in the U.S., compared to four men. Looking globally, men have received nearly double the number of artistic director appointments at ballet companies between 2021 and 2025 YTD (U.S. and International companies, 52 women, 97 men), underscoring the international scope of inequities in artistic leadership.
“This year’s report reflects not just current disparities, but the potential for change,” said Nancy Dobbs Owen, Special Projects Consultant. She continued, “By including new roles like music directors and principal conductors, we are broadening the conversation about who holds power in ballet. This expansion allows us to track trends over time and provide actionable insights that companies, funders, and the wider community can use to create more inclusive leadership structures.” For the first time, DDP analyzed music directors/principal conductors across the Largest 150 companies, revealing large gender disparities: 10 females (19.6%), 40 males (78.4%), and one (2.0%) gender expansive leader.
“Leadership opportunities for women in ballet are not just about fairness–they are about the survival and relevance of the art form which is on very shaky ground financially,” said Elizabeth ‘Liza’ Yntema, President and Founder of DDP. She elaborated, “Women make up the vast majority of dancers, yet remain underrepresented in the roles that shape artistic vision. Now we are finding similar statistics for female leadership of orchestras. DDP is committed to expanding our research, providing the transparency needed for boards, donors, and audiences to support more informed decisions across the field.”
The full report is available at dancedataproject.com/research.
