When I walked in, I expected to see a classic type of ballet, more so after reading the program. What I saw surprised me. The choreography, coupled with the classical music created a combination that was beyond me. Personally I’ve never been a fan of classical music nor ballet, and this being both still did not create any interest.
What was interesting however, was the fact that the music could be used to create such an interpretation, an interpretation owned by Compagnie Marie Chouinard. The music may not belong to her, but the choreography inspired by it wholly belongs to her. In the direction of copyright, this brings the question: where do works created from inspiration, rather than a work directly, lie in terms of copyright? The dances were inspired by the works of Chopin and Stravinsky, and while the music is used for the dances, are the dance and choreography themselves considered separate?
It would be interesting to wonder about this concept of separation. Personally I do not have any background at all in either stage music or choreography. However, it is very likely that copyright plays a major role in this. What I am wondering is if the choreography itself has some form of copyright on it. This in turn would create many complexities when it comes to licensing the production to other people. This would be a good topic to look into.