Getting to the root of dance rights

WHO owns a dance? This perennially troubling question has arisen again during Pilobolus Dance Theater’s current season at the Joyce Theater in New York. Alison Chase, a founding member who says she was fired by the troupe in December, asked it not to dance “Ben’s Admonition” and other works she choreographed for it, either alone or in collaboration. But the company refused.

Chase isn’t just any Pilobolus choreographer. The innovative troupe, whose works are typically a blend of gymnastics and dance, was created in a dance class she taught at Dartmouth College in 1971.

She says she was fired because “I would not sign over my rights to the new board of directors.”

Not so, says Itamar Kubovy, who became the troupe’s first executive director in 2004.

“The thing that’s important to understand about Pilobolus that separates it from other single-choreographer companies is that Pilobolus had multiple artistic directors from the beginning,” he says. “The company has owned all the works forever.”

Indeed, two other Pilobolus choreographer/artistic directors, Robby Barnett and Jonathan Wolken, recently signed contracts affirming that the company owns their work.

A similar ownership issue over the rights to works by Martha Graham was resolved last month only through the courts, which ruled in favor of the company that bears her name.

Kubovy says he doesn’t expect similar lawsuits. “I don’t see them as viable options,” he says. “And they haven’t taken place.”

Chase disputes Kubovy’s claim that individual artists cannot own collaborative work. “When a work is done by three choreographers, the three people own it,” she says. “If it’s two, it’s 50-50.

“They don’t have clear title to my work. Firing me did not give them clear title. I am committed to pursuing gaining ownership of my work.”

Stay tuned.

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Chris Pasles