The copyright implications of Beyoncé’s choreographic ‘borrowings’

This investigation into the copyright implications of the controversy arising from pop star Beyoncé’s choreographic ‘borrowings’ from a work by postmodern dance choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker interrogates the doctrines that determine not only the limits of the rights of authors to control the use of their works but also the rights of users of dance works in certain ‘permitted acts’. The principal aim is therefore to create a greater awareness of copyright in choreographic practice and to argue the proposition that choreographers and their representative organisations take a more proactive stance to seek legal and legislative determinations of their copyright problems so as to generate greater clarity in the administration of dance copyright in order to ensure that choreographers are placed on par with other authors in their enjoyment of copyright.