Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
Our vision is to unite people through the shared experience of dance performance as a reflection of our complex and diverse collective humanity.
How do we take ballet, an art form traditionally steeped in Euro-centric attitudes and traditions, and find ways to live up to our vision?
Actions We’ve Taken So Far
- Equitable compensation: dancers, choreographers, and other staff members are paid hourly in accordance with state law for their time in rehearsals as well as performances. We pride ourselves on paying our dancers for all their work in rehearsals, rather than limiting their compensation to a performance stipend.
- Locally grown: 95% of our dancers, choreographers, and other staff members are based in the Bay Area, making our company a reflection of our local community.
- Transparency: our Form 990 financial information is currently available for download from the Propublica site (tax years 2021 and 2022), and our board member names are published on our website.
- Empowering women: 55% of our guest choreographers have been women.
- Cultivating a safe workplace: we require California anti-harassment training to be completed every two years for all employees.
5-Year Goals for Increasing the Diversity of Our Company and the Stories We Tell
- Greater transparency: we will provide information to Charity Navigator after the required 3-year track record, and we will post on our website an annual statement of program service accomplishments.
- Diversifying our board: we will recruit board members who can speak to the varied experiences of Bay Area residents.
- Highlighting artists: we will seek to connect with and highlight artists from other disciplines as we perform shows around the Bay Area.
- Increasing accessibility: we will find new ways to present dance to audiences who cannot attend traditional theaters due to price, ability to travel, or sensory disabilities.
- Track our representation: we will increase the demographic data we collect from our employees to verify that our company reflects the community around us.
- Support recruitment and retention of a diverse cohort of talented artists by:
- Increasing dancers' pay to meet living wage
- Offering season-long contracts to dancers and choreographers
- Support a safe and inclusive professional environment by:
- Further training and education for employees and leadership
- Creating safe reporting paths to bring concerns forward
Most importantly, we take an active interest in the concerns of our artists and our community to swiftly, and when possible, proactively address issues related to discrimination on the basis of age, race, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, and body type.