Kalia asked: > If Taco Bell can get legal protection for rearrangements of the same 6 > ingredients in new orders, why not contra dances? >
I am not a lawyer either but I suspect that Taco Bell could receive protection for the name of the dish, their advertising slogan, descriptions, and photos of the dish. They might even get protection for the artistic "look" of the dish. They surely could not copyright a list of the ingredients nor the recipe for assembling them. My understanding is that you have the rights to the name of your dance, the teaching notes included with the notation, and possibly the layout of the dance notes on a page. You could also copyright any commentary you write and any photos or videos of the dance being called or danced. If another caller, however, uses a different set of words to call that sequence of figures and does not mention you as the author or the name you have assigned to the dance...I'm not sure you can protect the specific sequence of movements that make up the choreography. Personally, I am always honored if someone calls a dance I wrote. I don't feel a need to be credited for the dance, particularly at the time the dance is called. If I do a good job of choreographing a dance, then I see it, really, as the property of the dancers. The wisdom of the crowd is what makes a dance that works. I only assemble the sequence. But I recognize that some choreographers may feel more "ownership" of the dance. I don't want to call those dances. I would like to know if a dance is "owned" by a specific person so that I can avoid calling it. I think the best dances are embraced by the folk process and will evolve as the dance is passed through the community. No one "owns" those dances. They are being re-created with each generation of dancers. This traditional dance form is a collaborative process. - Greg McKenzie West Coast, USA On Fri, Sep 13, 2013 at 3:36 PM, Kalia Kliban <[email protected]> wrote: > On 9/13/2013 1:59 PM, Jeff Kaufman wrote: > >> On Fri, Sep 13, 2013 at 4:29 PM, Erik Hoffman <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> I published it ... only to find out later that Tony Parkes had >>> written the same dance -- for the same reason -- with the >>> variant of a B1 Half Promenade; Women Chain. ... Later I >>> found the same dance with the Right & Left Through, in >>> another book by a Lucille ... >>> >> >> This is part of why I'm skeptical that a contra dance would be >> original enough to qualify for copyright protection: people keep >> coming up with the same dances independently. >> > > If Taco Bell can get legal protection for rearrangements of the same 6 > ingredients in new orders, why not contra dances? > > Kalia > > ______________________________**_________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/**mailman/listinfo/callers<http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers> >
