This report is the fourth DDP annual report analyzing the distribution of sexes between leadership in ballet and classic companies around the world. This year's study widens the previous results by incorporating the data on music directors and the main conductors for the first time, as well as providing a complete analysis of artistic directors by continent.
The 2025 report examines 163 companies from 61 countries alongside 50 bigger American companies, bringing the total size of the sample to 213 companies.
The report identifies that out of the 217 artistic directors leading classic dance companies in the United States and abroad, 65 (30.0%) are women, while 152 (70.0%) are men. Compared, in 2024, 29% of artistic directors were women and 71% were men, demonstrating few changes in the past year. Europe has the greatest number of artistic directors, with 26 women in management positions. South America has the largest proportion of women artistic directors, where 55.6% (5 out of 9) of artistic directors are women.
Among the 11 largest ballet companies, on a global scale, those with more than 100 dancers, only 3 (27.3%) are led by women, while 8 (72.7%) are led by men. This marks a slight drop compared to 2024, where 4 out of 12 of these companies (33%) were led by women. Women are more likely to occupy management positions in small businesses, with 35.8% of companies with 24 dancers or less managed by women. In addition, 1.9% of these companies have co-artistic directors of different genres.
Women currently hold 60.9% of school chief positions, 49.2% of executive director positions, 46.2% of associated artistic / artistic director positions, 32.3% of artistic director positions at Second Companies and 57.9% of rehearsal director. It should be noted: the percentage of school leaders regularly dropped, from 71% in 2023 to 70% in 2024 and now to 60.9% in 2025, indicating an evolution towards male leadership in a post traditionally occupied by women.
For the first time, the report includes data on musical directors and the main conductors, revealing that only 12.5% of these positions are occupied by women, compared to 87.5% by men.
