BalletX is Philadelphia’s premier contemporary ballet company. Philadelphia dance companies are living in precarious times thanks to a brutal funding cut from the William Penn Foundation. Penn abruptly cut off funding for Dance/UP, an umbrella organization that serves many local dance companies and supported it with $950,000 in 2011.

This funding cut underscores the inherent risks of relying on a single funder, and as related news out of New York suggests, the problem isn’t confined to Philadelphia. Fortuantely, BalletX seems to have a well-rounded revenue base. It’s institutional funders include the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and—gulp!—the William Penn Foundation.

Ballet X v2

This bodes well for the future of the troupe and can explain why BalletX recently issued a call for applications for its 2016 choreographic fellowship.

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