Choreography Essay

The topic I decided to choose to conduct my Capstone Research on is Copyright in Choreographic Works. Choreography is “Choreographers use dance performances to express ideas and stories. There are many types of dance, such as ballet, tango, modern dance, tap, and jazz (bls.gov). Choreography is also something that should be made from the heart, it’s not something that should be taken from someone else because at that point, it wouldn’t be considered your choreography and it wouldn’t be something you made from your own mind and creativity. Dancing is something you have a passion for and you show your emotions through your movements, so there shouldn’t be a need to copy. The problem now is, many choreographers are starting to steal choreography

Her statement included that “Choreography should be subject to copyright; choreography should be named as a separate category of copyrightable matter; and the term “choreographic works” should include dramatic concert pieces, lyric-dramatic concert pieces, satirical concert pieces, and dance in operas, musical comedies, and revues.” ( Hall, 2017). She also added that she hope that choreographic works can become a category in the Copyright Law, instead of it being under dramatic works. Since some choreographies don’t qualify under dramatic works, then the solution would be to add a choreographic works category in the Copyright Law, so everyone could get a fair chance. If you worked really hard on choreography, you should be able to receive credit for it. Even a simple dance you should be able to receive credit. One example, Michael Jackson and the moonwalk. I absolutely enjoy Michael Jackson’s music and he was known for his legendary moonwalk, but he certainly did not invent it. He became so popular for it, but little did everyone know, he did not create it. A man by the name of Bill Bailey created the moonwalk, which was known as the backslide back then. He did not become as popular as Michael Jackson did, but that’s who originally started the dance. That is where a problem is created. There was also an incident where Beyonce has stole choreography for one out of many popular videos that she’d done. Beyonce tried to defend herself and she said that she used Keersmaeker's choreography as an inspiration to her “Countdown” video. The choreography was stolen from Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and she wasn’t impressed. Keersmaeker stated “ taking choreography out of context robbed it of it’s original power” (The Plagiarism Problem,2012). This controversy shows how so-called Choreographers steal others ideas and make it their own.