Tonight’s performance at the Williams Center was an amazing experience. The style of dance was very different than what I am used to (I was a ballet dancers for years). Marie Chouinard’s choreography combined modern dance with ballet to evoke a wide variety of feelings in the audience. The first act, 24 Preludes by Chopin, channelled every possible emotion. The main feature of the night, though, was Chouinard’s version of The Rite of Spring. Originally composed by Igor Stravinsky and choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky in 1913, the 100 year anniversary of this historically famous piece gives us much to think about. The score is in the public domain only in the United States. The original choreography has no copyright, although extensive research led one company, the Joffrey Ballet, to re-stage the piece according to Nijinsky’s original choreography in 1988.
Because the original choreography is not protected by copyright, many choreographers throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have created their own choreography to accompany the musical piece. (A list of some of the most famous adaptations of the work can be seen here.)
What do you guys think of this? Is it fair that other choreographers can re-do what has already been done? Or should we encourage this creativity?
Going into the ballet, I was expecting to see a performance with a more classical nature. At intermission I happened to hear what other audience members thought of the performance. I heard one woman exclaim that she was tired just watch the dancers and another woman say that she thought it was beautiful, but didn’t know what it could possibly mean. I think we should encourage this creativity. Everyone has their own interpretation of a musical piece, and as long as the choreography remains different, i don’t see how it can be unfair.
I think that this creativity should be encouraged, because it brings something new to each performance and allows for different and original interpretations of the work by both the choreographer and onlookers.
Choreography inspired and used with the music would most likely be vastly different from the original. Different people pull different inspiration and ideas from the same thing, so the fact that there is such a wide possibility for creativity means the creativity should be encouraged.