The folk community is generally very open on sharing ideas and
choreography. I suspect few of us would think twice about calling a dance
that we found when someone else called it at an event. As for publishing
it on the internet, we'd probably be more reticent, especially if the
author has not published it, or has done so in booklets that are sold.
This is generally the opposite of what happens in other dance communities,
where the creation is jealously guarded. This made me wonder whether we
are too lax in assuming that a choreographer is happy for us to make full
use of their work. So my question on the subject of copyright of
choreography is:
Under what circumstances do we have the moral and/or legal right to:
1) Call a dance written by someone else?
2) Publish a dance written by someone else?
3) Modify, or borrow from, a dance written by someone else?
Jeremy