Choreography is copyrightable hosts 2 day workshop during the Caribbean Educative Arts Festival [BARBADOS]

This past October, the Choreography is Copyrightable team travelled to Barbados to share dance copyright information with dance practitioners and educators at the 2nd Caribbean Educative Arts Festival (CEAF). The workshop featured presentations by Intellectual Property Attorney, Kayanne Anderson, COSCAP CEO, Erica Smith, Dancer/Choreographer/Educator - Neila Ebanks and Marlon Simms, and CIC Founder Simone Harris, over 2 days from Oct 21-22.

A first in the region, the CIC project aims to inform and educate choreographers/dance/dance educators about copyright law (and how to navigate them) as well as their rights under those laws. Kayanne Anderson, whose presentation focused on COPYRIGHT LAWS spent some time breaking down laws as they function not just in Jamaica and Barbados but a number of other islands including St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Cayman Islands. Many of the attendees were from these islands and so the information connected across the board. Erica Smith from COSCAP shared information with choreographers on how they can seek and obtain proper approval before using/choreographing to a specific piece of musical work. Ms. Smith also works with the Caribbean Copyright Link and was able to speak to how the clearance process works generally in the region (and not just in Barbados). According to Simone Harris, "it was crucial to have a presentation of this nature as part of this workshop. If we are to seek and get the respect of others for our creative works we too must respect works created by others [in this case....musical works]...so knowing how to get permission is key."
This discussion raised the question as to whether there is a need for a similar performance rights organization for choreographers whose works are exploited without approval.

On Day 2 the workshop stepped outside of the board room and into the NCF dance studio where attendees got a chance to learn about the Dance Notation Bureau based in NY and discuss the possibility of developing a similar system in the Caribbean, and get introduced to one of the most popular dance notation systems in the world - Labanotation. Team member, Marlon Simms, who is a choreographer/dancer with the National Dance Theatre Company in Jamaica and a dance educator at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts School of Dance directed an interactive {and fun} 2 hour INTRODUCTION TO LABANOTATION session.
This introductory session taught attendees the primary language/symbols used in Labanotation and also gave them an opportunity to translate this introductory knowledge into movement. The CIC team hopes to expand on this section of the workshop in the months to come.

The workshops were well received and we hope to be in other islands come next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp7rAFV0u8Y