CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, January 25, 2022

JaQuel Knight: Changing the Game, From Choreography to Copyright

Dance Magazine: “Can you imagine if TikTok had been a thing during ‘Single Ladies’?” asks choreographer JaQuel Knight, with a chuckle. Go ahead and imagine it: thousands of TikTokers posting their own takes on Knight’s indelible choreography. The song setting streaming records as fans play it on repeat, trying to get the hand flip just so. A dance-driven #SingleLadiesChallenge, inevitably.

1 comment:

E.C said...

The work that Jaquel Knight is doing is incredible and inspiring. I knew about the difficulties many composers face with copyright issues and was familiar with the struggles they have had in court, but I did not realize the prevalence of uncredited work by choreographers. It’s insane that the brilliant and well known Thriller choreography didn’t get Michael Peters the credit he was due.What also impresses me is how Knight is addressing the immediate need for help by choreographers as well as long term solutions to protecting their work and ensuring they are accurately compensated. I remember a few months after Keara Wilson’s Tik Tok dance to Megan Thee Stallion’s Savage raged across the platform, there was a video about her being excited about how popular the dance had become. She didn’t get nearly enough credit and has continued to have her dances recreated with no acknowledgement of her work.