One other slew of plagiarism accusations is sweeping the dance world. This time, they revolve round Enric Marimon, a dance instructor in Spain.
The uproar started when New York Metropolis–primarily based instructor and choreographer Courtney Ortiz posted a video of her personal choreography to ABBA’s “Voulez-Vous” alongside a video of practically an identical choreography posted by Marimon, which had no credit score to or point out of Ortiz. Ortiz’s comparability submit shortly blew up, amassing hundreds of feedback and shares. And it prompted the newest on-line reckoning over crediting and plagiarism in dance, a frustratingly acquainted chorus. (See: Beyoncé’s notorious “Countdown” video, Kelsea Ballerini’s 2018 Nation Music Awards efficiency, the a number of controversies involving the Okay-pop group ILLIT.)
Ortiz claims that Marimon has plagiarized three different items of her choreography, in addition to the work of no less than seven different choreographers over the course of a number of years, together with Joshua Bergasse, Richard Hinds, Karla Puno Garcia, John Leggio, Sophie Holloway, Sarah Meahl and Billy Griffin.
Marimon’s private Instagram and TikTok profiles, in addition to the pages for his studios, Broadway Home Madrid and Broadway Jazz Barcelona, are actually non-public, and it seems that movies have been deleted from his YouTube account. However earlier screenshots of these movies present some cases of Marimon being explicitly credited because the choreographer, in addition to a number of along with his title being listed subsequent to the mind emoji, or along with his title as a hashtag.
Marimon posted two (now deleted) apologies on Instagram, one in Spanish and one in English. He additionally posted a written apology in Spanish on Instagram, asserting that almost all of the work he teaches is his personal.
The accusations in opposition to Marimon transcend his in-person lessons. He additionally runs Broadway Jazz On-line, a subscription service that Ortiz says accommodates tutorial movies of choreography belonging to her, Hinds, and Leggio. (The Broadway Jazz On-line web site appears to have been taken offline.)
Provided that there are few protections for choreographers’ mental property until that property has been copyrighted, and that copyrighting choreography is very unusual and logistically fraught, that is extra more likely to be an moral difficulty than a authorized one. However within the wake of Ortiz’s allegations, Spanish dance organizations Jazzelona Dance Pageant and the Affiliation of Dance Professionals within the Group of Madrid have issued statements denouncing plagiarism, as has The Place Dance Studio Madrid, the place Marimon taught a visitor class utilizing what gave the impression to be Bergasse’s choreography. New York Metropolis studios Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Middle, the place Ortiz, Bergasse, and lots of the different choreographers educate, additionally launched statements.
“Copying and profiting off of stolen choreography is not going to be tolerated,” reads the BDC assertion. “Any filming or sharing by choreographers and academics on platforms is supposed to rejoice the choreographer’s abilities, showcase the scholars’ exhausting work, and advance our mission to encourage the world to bop.”
