"Lex choreutica in nuce. Danzatrici e coreografi italiani nell'era di Petipa"

AN INVESTIGATION OF COPYRIGHT AND PETIPA Going beyond a legal history, my presentation will explore the origins of copyright in dance in Europe and Russia by the use of legal cases, visual images and theatrical publications of the period. Within the history of the property rights to artistic works and the history of material things and ideas in XIXth century ballet in Russia, all the elements (dance notation, dance steps, music, props and costumes) are mutually reinforcing and strictly interlinked with the Italian ballerina’s invasion at the Imperial Theatres in Saint-Petersburg. Nowadays we know the importance of trademarks but, in the history of ballet, new steps, pointe shoes and tutus are anonymous. Indeed, the choreographers, the musicians and the scenic and costume designers were regarded more as craftsmen rather than as free artists, not always considered within the framework of a precise task performed by contract. Finally, it is possible to illustrate the cultural dynamics regarding the need for copyright protection, comparing the first law suit Perrot vs. Petipa in 1862, with the Manzotti law suits against his music composer Marenco and the Italian choreographer Cecchetti. We can also better understand how perceptions of authorship and property rights in dance have evolved from Petipa’s sketches to the Shiryaev stop motion animation, which was made by the character dancer and collaborator of Petipa with the purpose of fixing dancing movements: a sort of mechanical dance notation, that shifts from then on the terms of our discussion. The recent attempts to come back to the “original” Petipa versions highlight the important role of archives in promoting authenticity and saving the testimony of the period, looking at Paquita, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake and the storytelling through images in the Ezhegodniki Imperatorskich Teatrov.