Abstract
One of the hottest tickets at Dance Umbrella in 2009 was "Where are the Women?" a debate addressing the progressive disappearance of work by female choreographers. Appropriately reflecting the careful gender balance of the work in the Festival, it preceded a premiere by Shobana Jeyasingh – but, as if to prove a point, the autumn programming by established companies told a different story. All the new works from the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Christopher Wheeldon's Morphoses were made by men. Diaghilev gave Nijinska choreographic opportunities; but even in the recent centenary tribute to the great dance entrepreneur at Sadler's Wells, there was no comparable female presence.