The Artiste and the Wishing Tree

The debate to protect one's creative work or not continues... While the previous issue focused on the issue of plagiarism in classical arts at large, from the perspective of dance companies and the artistes who head these companies it was clear that they chose to steer towards creating new work and not indulge in legal battle as far as possible. But this does not mean that ALL companies function on trust and in the event of an artiste copying or imitating work, some companies have gone ahead and pursued the case legally. In this issue, I focus on the young dancer- be it soloists who are creating new work or dancers who freelance for companies or ensemble artistes or artistes who work with groups as well as create solo work. The intention is to delve into what plagiarism means to the young dancer. How would they define and understand it? What in their opinion is the right manner of protecting creative work? What have been the most interesting aspects of contractual agreements t...