Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

Copyright does not protect ideas or styles. It is only the expression of that style or idea that
is protected. To be protected by copyright the choreography must be original and it must be
in material form. Material form means that it must be documented or recorded in some way
– written down using dance notation, recorded on film or video. Sound recordings are also a
sufficient method of fixing a work in material form, but are unlikely to be relevant to dance.
Many dancers use special notation such as Labanotation or Benesh notation to put their
choreography in material form, but the reducing costs of technology means that work can
be recorded and in some cases used as promotional and marketing material on the web.
When the choreography is put into material form there will also be separate copyright in the
choreography, the notation as a literary work and the film or video as a cinematograph film.
Australia and the US have particular guidance for choreographers and dancers about their
rights. Sadly this is not yet available in the UK, but the Intellectual Property Office website is
useful as a starting point: .
All dancers should be aware of their rights under copyright law. The references at the end
of this chapter can provide a helpful guide.
4. Key Findings
This section of the report uses Arts Council England annual submissions and grant returns
to examine trends in the subsidised sector. It also recognises dance’s relationship to the
wider creative economy. It is possible to see trends and shifts in the overall economy.
These are useful to both the Arts Council and to the dance field to inform future strategy.
The lack of rigorous data means that only trends can be identified in reaching an
understanding of how dance is working within the economy. The dance portfolio supported
through the Arts Council’s dance department is an important but perhaps relatively small
part of the picture. It is significant, but the range of venues, arts centres and other spaces
that present dance add to the dance economy and are difficult to identify.
• the economic trends show an artform in growth, not only in the subsidised sector but
also in the broadcasting and commercial sectors
• there are currently 72 dance organisations that receive regular funding from the Arts
Council: 23 in London; 19 across the Arts Council’s North West, North East and
Yorkshire regions; 20 in the Midlands and South West; and 10 in the South East and
East
• regularly funded dance organisations currently constitute 10.78 per cent of Arts Council
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