Ethics - The importance of good manners

You can read a further article on the subject by clicking here

Many years ago when I first started working as a professional dancer there seemed to be an unofficial code of good manners, a kind of 'dancers’ etiquette', amongst most of the dancers I met and worked along side. If you broke one of the ‘rules’ other performers were quick to let you know you had crossed the line. I'm not saying that things were all ‘sweetness and light’ and that no dancer ever undercut another dancer for a regular gig for instance, but other things like performing someone else’s choreography and passing it off as your own, rarely seemed to happen. These days with better communication amongst members of our community (workshops, videos, the Internet and visits by Master Teachers from abroad) I am hearing about, and seeing for myself, more and more instances of what could be politely described as 'bad manners' amongst dancers. I say "politely" because often these incidents are not done deliberately, but simply because the dancer in question did not realise that she was doing anything wrong. When however, it is done deliberately, the only way to describe this behaviour is unethical. I want to open a debate on ethics with a theme close to my own heart: the music we dance to.

When you perform to a piece of pre-recorded music do you credit the artist(s) by giving your audience its name and source? No? Well imagine how you’d feel if you danced in a show and your name was left off the programme. Our dance is nothing without the music we dance to, so is it not important that we give credit to those who produce it for us?

‘That’s all very well’, I can hear you saying, ‘but what if I bought a tape or CD and the cover is in a foreign language?’ I accept that sometimes it is hard, but even if you do not have the full translation of the song titles/composer you can ask the retailer the name of the artist and/or the name of the album, usually they are quite happy to tell you.

When I was a music retailer one of the most common requests I used to get was to identify music on a cassette from dancers who have purchased ‘bootleg’ music from either their regular teacher or at a workshop. Selling music dubbed from the original onto tapes, CDs or any other media, for resale is against copyright laws in most countries and is certainly illegal in the UK. * With the availability of music today (music stores, the Internet etc.) there really is no excuse for this kind of unethical behaviour and all it does is deprive the musicians of their royalties, and therefore their livelihood. Instead of buying the bootleg version ask the teacher to provide you with the name of the artist and the album so that you can buy your own copy to use. If she is unwilling to do this ask her why, maybe she’s not aware of copyright law.

In the last year I have attended several shows where I saw performances to some very well known pieces of music which were either wrongly named or not credited all. Two pieces were by Hossam Ramzy who publishes all his music with English titles. In some instances I was doubly disappointed because I knew that the dancer had purchased the music from me and that the CD had an English translation provided. In my opinion there is no excuse whatsoever for omitting this information from your performance details when you are fully aware of them. If you were performing to live music would you expect the musicians to work without either pay or recognition? In effect, this is what you are doing to them when you do not credit your music accurately or through buying bootleg music.

Please think carefully about the music you use in a performance, and try to remember the importance of giving credit to the musicians, as without their music you would not be dancing in the first place.

* You may make a copy only for your own personal use.

This article first appeared in Issue # 31 of Taqasim Magazine.