Who owns it?

Who owns a dance: the choreographer? the dancers? the viewers? Kate Mattingly reports from Chicago...

What’s the difference between being influenced by and stealing from another artist? Did you know Loie Fuller sued a woman who imitated her Serpentine Dance in the 1890s?

The intersection of intellectual property and the arts may go back a century, but it is a hot topic today – as anyone who has seen Beyonce’s “borrowing” of Fosse in the “Single Ladies” video knows. This weekend I was in Chicago to take part in a panel about Dance and Technology called “A Slippery Slope: Sampling & Piracy in the Digital Age of Dance.” I was part of a discussion with Dance Scholar Susan Manning, Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Attorney Dawn Larsen, Composer Richard Woodbury, Choreographer Julia Rhoads, and Moderator and Scholar Raquel Monroe. It was a lively and smart conversation. Best of all, the event was followed by a performance created by Rhoads called “Punk Yankees.” The performance was clever, engaging, and subversive. It was my first time seeing Rhoads’ work although her company – called Lucky Plush – is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. Her “Punk Yankees” blends practice and theory by presenting the most relevant questions through the body to frame, re-frame, torque and transform ideas. You can catch her work – and her innovative approach – on the web (of course) at the site: StealThisDance.com. Intelligent… and fun.

The panel was held at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.