P.S. 38: Copyright and Choreography

These are on people’s minds following Philly’s recent Remix Festival. How do artists navigate issues of appropriation, especially with readily available internet content (remember Beyoncé vs. De Keersmaeker http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PDT0m514TMw)? Is copyright an outdated concept? And as Claudia LaRocco wrote on Arforum on March 24: “Who owns a tradition, a technique? How can you translate it? Must you be on your knees to pay homage?” When is it OK to borrow art?

Share this article

PARTNER CONTENT

Keep Reading

  • Reviews

My Tongue is a Blade, is a Blade, is a Blade

Caedra Scott-Flaherty

Sweat Variant’s new durational work tests the limits of attention.

Performers Bria Bacon and Okwui Okpokwasili, both Black women wearing black, stand in the middle of a spinning structure at the center of the room, surrounded by a seated audience. The structure is round with a black bottom and reflective panels about 8 feet tall surrounding it. Through the spaces between the panels, Bacon and Okpokwasili are seen standing close together, facing each other. Becon's knees and arms are bent. Okpokwasili has a hand on Bacon's head and gazes above it.
Photo: Ava Pellor
  • Reviews

Joy in SPEAK

Emilee Lord

When Masters Converse

From left to right, dancers Dormeshia, Rachna Nivas, Rukhmani Mehta and Michelle Dorrance. They are in motion. Dormeshia and Dorrance wear white pants, thigh length white tunics, and tap shoes. Nivas and Mehta wear white leggings, long white dresses with golden details on the skirts and bodices. They have bands of bells around their ankles and are barefoot. The tap dancers have a quality of bending and sending energy into the floor. The Kathak dancers are lifted, arms raised, poised.
Photo: Richard Termine