Critical Race Theory and Copyright in American Dance - by Caroline Joan S Picart (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The effort to win federal copyright protection for dance choreography in the United States was a simultaneously racialized and gendered contest. Copyright and choreography, particularly as tied with whiteness, have a refractory history. This book examines the evolution of choreographic works from being federally non-copyrightable, unless they partook of dramatic or narrative structures, to becoming a category of works potentially copyrightable under the 1976 Copyright Act. Crucial to this evolution is the development of whiteness as status property, both as an aesthetic and cultural force and a legally accepted and protected form of property. The choreographic inheritances of Loie Fuller, George Balanchine, and Martha Graham are particularly important to map because these constitute crucial sites upon which negotiations on how to package bodies of both choreographers and dancers - as racialized, sexualized, nationalized, and classed - are staged, reflective of larger social, political, and cultural tensions. "--

Book Synopsis

The effort to win federal protection for dance in the United States was a racialized and gendered contest. Picart traces the evolution of choreographic works from being federally non-copyrightable to becoming a category potentially copyrightable under the 1976 Copyright Act, specifically examining Loíe Fuller, George Balanchine, and Martha Graham.

Review Quotes

"Picart is familiar with not only the most relevant secondary literature on dance, choreography, and related topics, but also the copyright laws regarding artistic commodities. Her focus on specific figures and the most salient details of the actual history of modern dance makes this book an especially exciting one. I cannot imagine anyone interested in either dance or critical race theory who would not be drawn at least to peruse this work." - Vincent Colapietro, Liberal Arts Research Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA"

"In Critical Race Theory and Copyright in American Dance, Picart succeeds not only in her immediate project, but also in debunking the myth that some fields of law are race/sex/gender neutral. In her sophisticated treatment of copyright and dance, she traces the history of copyright application to art, and shows with fascinating ability the structural inequities in the legal and art worlds and processes. She peels away at the layers of discriminatory impetus - be it conscious or unconscious - and makes a convincing case for the distortions they effect. This book is a must-read for students and scholars of critical theory - race, feminist, queer, of law and of art (in all its sub-disciplines)." - Berta Hernandez-Truyol, Levin, Mabie and Levin Professor of Law, University of Florida, USA

About the Author

Caroline Joan (Kay) S. Picart, formerly a tenured associate professor of English and Humanities at Florida State University, is a joint Juris Doctor-MA Candidate (WST) at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and an adjunct professor of Humanities at Santa Fe College.