American Ballet Theater (ABT) is championing women choreographers. According to The New York Times, the company has started The ABT Women’s Movement, a multi-year program designed to support and stage dances by women. The initiative will mentor and promote at least three female choreographers each season.

Most years will see one work from a woman choreographer be staged by ABT’s main company, and another by ABT Studio Company. The third dance will be a work-in-progress for either troupe. Each choreographer will collaborate with her respective group of dancers for two to five weeks, while receiving mentorship from ABT’s artistic staff.

The ABT Women’s Movement evolved from American Ballet Theater’s Women’s Choreographers Initiative. That scheme has financed works by Jessica Lang, Lauren Lovette, and Dana Genshaft.

“I realized at the beginning of last year that my future plans for the next three years included a majority of women,” ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie told the Times. “I thought, we’re doing this anyway — why don’t we formalize it?” He added, “It’s important to level the playing field, if you will, but what’s paramount above and beyond that is, Where is the next voice? I’m looking for somebody who can ignite the excitement of where we are in time. I just care about the work. And it turns out that the work that is catching my eye seems to be a higher percentage of women,” he said.

ABT’s October 17 opening-night gala will feature an all-women program. The lineup will include a premiere from tap dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance, a rendition of Twyla Tharp’s dance “In the Upper Room,” and ABT Studio Company’s performance of the Lovette-choreographed “Le Jeune.”

The theater will stage its third ballet from Lang this fall. Dances by Claudia Schreier and Stefanie Batten Bland are among its 2018-19 season offerings.

“The artistic staff at American Ballet Theatre has embraced and encouraged my work for nearly 20 years,” Lang said in a statement. “I am proud to be a part of this initiative. If we can ignite all imaginations to find creative potential, we can move from possible to probable that the future will have equality and be rich with inventive ideas and engaging art.”