Upcoming Deadlines | click here to see if you are eligible for any of these opportunities

July 31st: Community Engagement Artists and Creatives Grant, December 31st: New England Presenter Travel Fund, December 31st: Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Scholarship, December 31st: 24 Seven Dance Convention, December 31st: National Theater Project Presenter Travel Grant, December 31st: Breck Creek Artist-in-Residence Program

×

DDP Talks To

"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery

Ellevest: What the World Looks Like After This

/0 Comments/in /by

By Sallie Krawcheck

7 April 2020

The first order of business is to get through this coronavirus.

I’m doing any number of things more, to make up for doing lots of other things less — like going out and commuting and traveling. I’m exercising more, I’m drinking more, I’m eating more, I’m sleeping more, I’m cooking more. And of course, I’m worrying more. And I’m being grateful more — that I can cook more and sleep more, and that I have the privilege of working from home.

And I’m thinking of what the world looks like on the other side. And what really matters.

I hope that we come out the other side as a kinder nation. One that now recognizes who our “essential” workers are: the nurses, doctors, med techs, bodega workers, delivery people, farm laborers, warehouse workers, truck drivers, volunteers. And one that now recognizes the hard work of our teachers and caregivers.

I hope that also means we’ll be a society that no longer undervalues the contributions of its more vulnerable populations.

Ellevest was founded with the goal of getting more money into the hands of women.

And so can we just put a pin in one thing as we work through this?

Last week was Equal Pay Day, that bitter pill of a date that marks how many days into 2020 women have to work in order to earn what men earned in 2019. It means that women — on average — earn 82 cents to a man’s dollar. More for Asian American women and white women. Less for Black and brown women.

Read the full newsletter on Ellevest.

New York Times: A Ballet Scandal Gets the ‘Special Victims Unit’ Treatment

/0 Comments/in /by

By Gia Kourlas

27 March 2020

In a recent Instagram story, the dancer and model Alexandra Waterbury posted that she had just seen the preview for the latest “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” on television. She wrote, “I’ll be watching the ‘Kardashians’ instead.”

The “SVU” episode, “Dance, Lies and Videotape,” shown Thursday night, seemed to be loosely modeled on an incident at New York City Ballet. In 2018, two principal male dancers were fired after they were accused of sharing texts of sexually explicit photos of women, including of Ms. Waterbury. (An arbitrator ordered the company to reinstate them.) A third, Chase Finlay, resigned before he could be fired. Ms. Waterbury filed a lawsuit against the company, the affiliated School of American Ballet and Mr. Finlay, her ex-boyfriend.

In the end, Ms. Waterbury watched “SVU” and wrote a response in her Instagram stories. The episode, which takes her story to a darker place, is unflagging in its attempt to include every ballet stereotype, most predominantly, that all the women in ballet are victims. One character, naturally the gay male friend, sums up their world: “Straight male can’t fail. Gay men, it depends. But girls in ballet? Do what we say.”

It’s telling that the word is girls, not women. Infantilizing ballet dancers is a real thing. In bringing it out into the open, both on television and in life, progress is being made to give women more empowerment.

Read the full article in the New York Times.

See DDP’s related Instagram post here.

InfiniteBody Blog: It’s also okay to take time to grieve.

/0 Comments/in /by

17 March 2020

By Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Hey, friend! How are you doing? How are you faring in this new reality?

Me? It’s different from moment to moment, day to day. And that’s the way I’ve learned to take it. Because that’s the only way it’s going to work. The information and guidelines and rules we’re getting evolve as this coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the world, our state and our city, and we inch along towards an unknown future. We’re all trying to do our best.

Well, some of us, actually, are doing our usual. Which is not helpful. It’s a time for responsibility. And I’m livin’ in the USA where gun sales are rising and young people have to be forced to stay away from bars.

Anyway, my fellow Americans, my fellow New Yorkers, my fellow arts folks, here’s where we find ourselves.

Lord love us, the virus struck, our daily habits and plans and expectations got shut down but–damnit!–we got busy. Right away!

We’ve now put a flood of videos and livestreams out with everything from opera performances to yoga and meditation and cooking classes to art museum tours. Oh, thank goodness we’ve got the Internet and social media and the same electronic devices we’d just spent months and months complaining about and trying to spend more time away from so we could have authentic experiences with our loved ones IRL.

Read the full blog post here.

Ellevest: Nothing Bad Happens When Women Have More Money

/0 Comments/in /by

From Alexandra Ramirez, Brand Marketing Director

Yup. Seriously nothing.

ICYMI: Earlier this week, Women’s History Month came to the most anticlimactic end in, well, history. And Equal Pay Day became a blip on our own, and the world’s, radar. As CEO Sallie Krawcheck wrote earlier this week, it’s hard to think about fighting for equal pay when people are fighting to make ends meet.  Research shows, however, that people with less privilege — women and particularly women of color and trans women — are more likely to be negatively impacted in a pandemic. Similar to the gender-neutral approach to investing that has held women+ back for so long, there is a gender-neutral approach to pandemics. And while policymakers will say there are “bigger issues,” the reality is the gender disparities that existed before COVID-19 have only been amplified.So what’s a financial feminist to do? To be honest, I’m struggling to answer that question right now, too. I’m holding onto these four truths as I head into the weekend:
1) The fight for gender equality affects millions of women and girls and we must keep it in focus,
2) women supporting women is more important than ever,
3) we cannot do this without our allies and people of privilege using their power to prioritize gender equality, and
4) nothing bad happens when women have more money.

Read more articles from Ellevest here.

Stylist Magazine: On the frontline: the awe-inspiring women fighting coronavirus

/0 Comments/in /by

By Hanna Woodside

1 April 2020

As the world grapples with the escalating coronavirus pandemic, we all have our part to play in the fight against the virus. While many of us adjust to this new normal of self-isolation and social distancing, there are thousands of people working day in, day out to save lives and help those most in need. They’re the everyday heroes who deserve every ounce of our gratitude, admiration and recognition. So Stylist spoke to three women working on the frontline of the Covid-19 response, to get a glimpse into their vital work and the unique challenges they’re stepping up to. And we salute every single one of them.

Read the full article in Stylist Magazine.

Dance Magazine: The Dance Performances That Have Gone Online

/0 Comments/in /by

By Jennifer Stahl

16 March 2020

As COVID-19 shuts down schools and businesses across the world, just about every upcoming dance performance has been canceled. That means dancers who’ve spent weeks (and sometimes months or years) rehearsing won’t be able share their work with live audiences anytime soon.

But dancers are nothing if not creative. Many have quickly adapted and found ways to put their work online instead. Some companies are offering one-time livestreams to ticket holders, while others are putting up videos on-demand. Many are posting rehearsal clips that were captured before we all started social distancing.


The DDP team is (as always) working from home. During this time of self-isolation and quarentine, we are sharing our favorite videos on Twitter with the hashtag #DDPatHome – check out the posts for some videos of women in ballet: ballerinas, work by female choreographers, leaders, and more. Stahl’s list is a good start – she features women choreographers Mariana Oliviera and Sheena Annalise in her article for Dance Magazine above!

Read the full article on Dance Magazine’s blog.

DANCE DATA PROJECT® MARKS EQUAL PAY DAY WITH RELEASE OF LATEST STUDY, REVEALS PERSISTENT GENDER INEQUITY AMONG TOP U.S. DANCE COMPANY LEADERSHIP

/0 Comments/in /by

DDP has released our second annual Artistic and Executive Leadership Report today on Equal Pay Day. The report shows persistent inequity in pay among artistic directors of the “Top 50” U.S. ballet companies.

Read more

The Fan Carpet: BalletBoyz To Present Deluxe For BBC Four TV Premiere And Online Screening To Launch Sadler’s Wells Facebook Premieres Series

/0 Comments/in /by

26 March 2020

BALLETBOYZ NEW SHOW DELUXE TO AIR ON BBC FOUR FOR THE BBC CULTURE IN QUARANTINE FESTIVAL AND TO BE SCREENED ONLINE TOMORROW EVENING TO LAUNCH SADLER’S WELLS FACEBOOK PREMIERES SERIES

FURTHER DIGITAL WORKS FROM BALLETBOYZ’ VIDEO ARCHIVE PLUS NEW MATERIAL WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE TO WATCH SOON

Twitter/ Facebook / Instagram / Website

BalletBoyz’ new dance show Deluxe will air on BBC Four for the BBC Culture in Quarantine festival and the production will also be available to view online from Friday 27 March at 7.30pm to launch Sadler’s Wells Facebook Premieres. Following Government advice on Monday 16 March and to protect the safety of audiences, artists and workforce, BalletBoyz cancelled the remaining performances of its 20th anniversary UK Spring Tour but is now able to share the production with audiences watching from home. Deluxe will have its TV premiere on BBC Four and will be available on iPlayer – further details to be announced in due course. Co-producers Sadler’s Wells, where the live show was due to be performed in London this week, will also host Deluxe on its Facebook page this Friday at 7.30pm as the first video of the new Sadler’s Wells Facebook Premieres series where it will be available to watch for one week only. 

Deluxe features three new works choreographed by an all-female team: Ripple, the UK debut of renowned shanghai-based choreographer Xie Xin with music by electronic composer Jiang Shaofeng; Bradley 4:18 by Punchdrunk choreographer Maxine Doyle in a collaboration with Mercury Prize-nominated jazz musician Cassie Kinoshi and inspired by the Kate Tempest track Pictures On A Screen; plus The Intro, a short opening film by emerging choreographer Sarah Golding set to music by SEED Ensemble.

BalletBoyz was founded in 2000 by Artistic Directors Michael Nunn and William Trevitt. Deluxe is the company’s 20th anniversary production and is performed by the current BalletBoyz company which includes Joseph Barton, Benjamin Knapper, Harry Price, Liam Riddick, Matthew Sandiford and Will Thompson plus apprentice Dan Baines.

In addition to Deluxe, BalletBoyz will be sharing further video content online in the coming weeks including excerpts from their past shows, films and documentaries, behind the scenes in rehearsals, plus brand new material online.


Read the full article online here.

Vogue: The Australian Ballet’s Alice Topp on the cancellation of Volt and why you have to see it when it returns

/0 Comments/in /by

By Alexia Petsinis

23 March 2020

Only a few days after its Melbourne premiere, The Australian Ballet announced that Volt— its latest contemporary offering—will have its season cancelled as nation-wide precautionary measures are taken against Covid-19. The news has devastated Australia’s tight-knit ballet community, affecting everyone from dancers and choreographers, to loyal ticket-holders who haven’t missed a single production in years.

Alice Topp—Resident Choreographer and Coryphée dancer with The Australian Ballet—is sharing deeply in the company’s disappointment. Topp premiered her work Logos as part of the program, a gutsy, hypnotic piece trading sugar plum fairies for an exploration of how we grapple with our modern demons.

“Obviously we are all gutted by the forced cancellation of the season. We’ve been working so hard, pouring everything into the program and working for over a year on bringing the new piece to life, so it’s devastating to have the shows cancelled,” shares Topp. “But this beast is something well beyond our control and it will only make our return to stage so much sweeter. Everyone is so hungry to get back out there and share with the world what we’ve been working on.”

A triple-bill comprising the works Chroma and Dyad 1929 from acclaimed British choreographer Wayne McGregor, and Topp’s Logos, Volt is a multi-sensory spectacle exploring the trials and complexities of the human condition with explosive power. The piece is a mirror to society, challenging the audience to reflect on our place in the world—our vulnerable bodies, our emotional sensitivities—and how our humanity is ultimately registered in connection with those around us.

Read the rest of the article here.

New York Times: Royal Ballet and Liam Scarlett Part Ways After an Investigation

/0 Comments/in /by

By Alex Marshall

24 March 2020

LONDON — The British choreographer Liam Scarlett on Monday left his position as the Royal Ballet’s artist-in-residence, after an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct with dance students.

Mr. Scarlett will “no longer work with, or for, the Royal Ballet,” the company said in a statement, which added that a seven-month, independent investigation the company commissioned “found there were no matters to pursue in relation to alleged contact with students of the Royal Ballet School.”

A spokesman for the Royal Ballet said the company would not comment further on the announcement. Mr. Scarlett did not immediately answer an email requesting his response.

Mr. Scarlett, once heralded as a “choreographic wonder boy of British ballet” by The New York Times, has created works for dance companies worldwide, including the American Ballet Theater. This month, the Royal Ballet was forced to end the sold-out run of his “Swan Lake” at the Royal Opera House after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the venue.

Read the full article here.

Last year, an arbitrator ordered New York City Ballet to reinstate two male dancers it had fired after they were accused of sharing sexually explicit photos of female dancers.