The role of institutional prestige, gender, and number of citizenships in ballet masters’ careers

The role teachers play in spreading and preserving knowledge directly impacts the growth and development of their students. In the context of ballet, a ballet master maintains and evolves the technical standards of students that impact the art form’s legacy. In recognizing the importance of these individuals in the ballet realm, this study explores the characteristics, including institutional prestige, gender, and number of citizenships, that affect a ballet master’s career and overall influence. We hypothesized that ballet masters affiliated with prestigious institutions, male ballet masters, and ballet masters with a higher number of citizenships would be more likely to achieve higher levels of influence and success in their careers. Utilizing structured data from Wikidata, our study employed network analysis, correlational analysis, and statistical methods to test this hypothesis. The results indicate that connections to prestigious institutions and higher numbers of citizenships enhance a ballet master’s career. Although the research found no statistically significant relationship between gender and number of awards, male ballet masters had a significantly higher number of webpage links, and our data add to the ongoing research about gender’s role in the work industry. The study results can offer insights into how certain professional characteristics can contribute to success in other artistic fields beyond ballet and can be used to explore whether the same relationship holds true for other important roles in the ballet community.