A ballet company is a type of dance troupe that performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round basis, except in the United States, where contracts for part of the year (typically thirty or forty weeks) are normally offered. A company generally has a home theatre where it stages the majority of its performances, but many companies also tour in their home country or internationally.
Ballet companies routinely make a loss at the box office and depend on external financial support of one kind or another. In Europe, most of this support comes in the form of government subsidies, though private donations are usually solicited as well. In North America, private donations are the main source of external funding.