DDP Talks To Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies (Founder & Director)
Little Tanz Theater
DDP: Your flagship production just premiered in late 2024. Did you choose to follow traditional financial strategies, or were there other avenues you explored to be financially prepared for your season?
Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies, Founder & Director: “We premiered this production under my own name. I don’t know how traditional a strategy like this is, but I considered that first year a beta test, asking. ‘Could I successfully secure grant funding? Could we attract an audience? Would dancers be interested in being part of the production?’ By asking and testing these questions before establishing a company, I was able to keep my risk exposure low and felt more freedom to move quickly and experiment. All that being said, fundamentally, I’ve still relied on traditional funding strategies to support these first two seasons—in our case, grants, ticket sales, partnerships with established presenting organizations, and private donations.”
DDP: What do you think is the most significant barrier to female leadership in the dance world?
Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies, Founder & Director: “In my experience, the most significant barrier to female leadership in the dance world is how young, female-identifying individuals are socialized, both within the dance world and beyond. It’s subtle; I grew up with supportive, feminist parents and teachers, but I still have ingrained ideas and behaviors that sometimes feel like impediments to seeking out or accepting leadership roles. Based on my own experience with students, this has already changed since I was coming up, but sexism is insidious and lurks in so many corners of our lives—we have to remain vigilant.”
DDP: Are there any changes to the landscape for female leaders (especially in the performing arts) that you’d like to see improved upon?
Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies, Founder & Director: “I think a lot about how we learn to be leaders. Of course, some people are born with excellent leadership skills, but those skills can be taught and learned. I came up through a conservatory-style program and earned my BA in dance. While both were comprehensive, neither experience provided any explicit leadership or management training. Now, in my mid-30s, I sometimes feel desperately behind. I’ve learned a lot from watching others and have gained education through the corporate jobs I’ve worked, but the industries are different, and each has its own particular needs. From what I can see, many of today’s training programs do include practical leadership/management/administrative skills in their curricula, which is great. There’s probably room for more, and for more incentives for students to actually take advantage of those offerings. I also think there’s more opportunity for continuing education. Serving in a leadership role is very different from learning about it in the abstract and raises all sorts of new questions and predicaments.”
DDP: With women leading 39.2% of all U.S. businesses (Women Entrepreneurs Driving Economic Growth, 2024), did you have any barriers to being a part of that statistic and breaking glass ceilings?
Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies, Founder & Director: “I feel lucky that my primary barriers were mental—ideas about leadership and entrepreneurship that I absorbed subconsciously as a young adult. I can’t think of a time when someone told me that I wasn’t cut out for company directorship or anything like that, but growing up in ballet-land, I internalized the idea that a ‘good girl’ was quiet, docile, and perfect. Breaking out of that mold, whether for the purposes of establishing Little Tanz Theater or pursuing other goals, has been challenging. ”
DDP: What strategies helped you scale Little Tanz Theater from being an idea to premiering its inaugural production?
Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies, Founder & Director: “In some ways, I went about this process in reverse. I was hesitant to start a company—it felt like a big commitment, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be on the hook for so much responsibility. When I first had the idea to create and produce Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins in 2023, I considered starting a company, but decided to hold off in favor of further validating the viability of the show. I sought the support of established organizations in my network and applied for individual-level grants that did not require 501C3 status or a fiscal sponsor. I created a landing page to help with advertising and promotion, but used my existing personal website domain, so I didn’t have to purchase a new one.
For the 2025-2026 season, I received a grant to tour Hershel in greater Minnesota. As I began the planning process, it quickly became clear that, for a variety of reasons, having a company would be really helpful (if solely so that I didn’t have to put my extremely long name on the posters!). Once I landed on a name for the organization, things moved very quickly. Because I had already produced Hershel, I had created a lot of assets that made setting up the company website and defining an initial mission statement straightforward. All that prep work made the scaling-up process much simpler.”
People's Summit, Photo by Midia Ninja