Cooperative Creativity: The ADR Foundations of Modern Dance Copyright

Authors

Audrey O'Brien

Abstract

In the mid-twentieth century, the landscape of copyright was quickly changing, facing new technologies as well as cultural changes that would ultimately test the limits of the 1909 Copyright Act. Choreographic copyright protection changed immensely throughout the last half of the twentieth century, and one ballet company at the forefront of the changing tides of copyright law was the New York City Ballet (“NYCB”), led by choreographer George Balanchine. By the time Balanchine passed, the legacy of both his company, NYCB, and his body of copyrighted work was immense enough to determinatively color the way choreographic copyrights are handled under the Copyright Act of 1976. Balanchine’s works showed above all that litigation is not the only answer when it comes to preserving rights in creative works, particularly for parties who are not equipped for the long and expensive process that litigation entails.

Recommended Citation

Audrey O'Brien, Cooperative Creativity: The ADR Foundations of Modern Dance Copyright, 2025 J. Disp. Resol. (2026)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr/vol2025/iss2/13