CriticalDance Forum

I was wondering.Does the AD always have to get permission to do a persons choreography/ballet/work--if the person is still live and well of course;like say Tyla Tharp,Flindt(Red Shoes),Alonzo King,etc?<BR> I remember reading there was trouble in one of the Canadian ballet co. where the co. tried to do a former AD works without her permission( she had been fired from her position prior to this);she naturally put up a fuss about it.

Briefly, yes, most works are protected by the surviving estate. However, I'll let others respond in more detail.

Frequently it's not only permission, but also a monetary exchange. You purchase the right to do it for X number of performances or years. And it can get pricey! Especially if it is a deal where you pey so much per performance.

Thanks guys--I imagine it can get nasty if an AD takes it among him/herself to do a certain work without proper permission.

A good manager wouldn't let it happen. That's their job.

What about a student who wants to compete in a ballet competition? (i.e. International Ballet Competition?) How do you get rights in order to perform the work? ALso, the same for music??<P>AND do you know where to find a nice costume without major debt? THANKS!!

There was an instance in the UK last year when a prominent choreographer (I'll spare him/her further embarressment) found that thay couldn't get approval from the estate to use the piece of music that had been used in the choreography. He had a week or so to re-set using another piece of music.<P>It was a foolish oversight, but the company did get a lot of free publicity as a result. Silver lining and all that.<p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited October 19, 2001).]

I understand that most variations done at competitions are exempt because the choreographers have been dead for so long (i.e. Petipa). If you want to do a Balanchine variation in competition, you have to get permission from the Trust and go through that whole process, which is why you don't see "Apollo" done in competition. It is usually better to stick to brand new works or the stand by classics.

There's also the permission aspect for different mediums. Permission for performance doesn't necessarily include permission to distribute through recorded mediums (ie. video). <P>The law is different everywhere but performance rights are becoming a big issue here in Canada. SOCAN (Society of Composers...) is a very protective organization so you can't just use a piece of music because you like it, on your website for example, without the composers permission.

I know at a recital, no matter how small the store front studio, a fee must be paid for use of music - except for that which is already in the public domain like Tchaikovsky. But even there a specific recording might be protected.<P>I remember the studios I worked for having to pay this fee.

Yes, for musical rights, you have to pay a fee to ASCAP. It can be quite pricey, but better than getting sued for copywright infringment.

In the UK all teachers should pay a fee to the PPL for the music they use in class and performance.<P>If you are performing say a musical you need to pay money to the rights holder which is usally a percentage of your box office take.

A theatre for which I used to work recently revived a piece I'd lit for them. They used my light plot, but not my cues (because they didn't want to hire anyone to transpose them to their new dimmer configuration). Apparently, it was disastrous.

They did this without my knowledge or permission.

Admittedly, it's a gray area; our contract didn't specify the ownership of the intellectual property, but if they hired me to reset it, they could have had the original lighting...and much less pain.

It was just a regional company i was in but we did Balanchines Serenade- wore the same costumes, used the same music and did the same steps-but ended up calling it something else after the director found out royalities and permission were more trouble than it was worth.

Was this a professional company, or amateur?

Either way, it's appalling.

I wish people would understand that when they use artists' work without permission, they are stealing those artists' property just as much as they would be if they hotwired someone's Chevrolet.