THE BODY IS THE WORK.
A dancer usually does not own the choreography they perform, because copyright in a routine belongs to the choreographer who created the sequence of movements. What a dancer does hold is a performer's interest in their own performance, which in most of Europe is a distinct neighbouring right covering the fixation, reproduction and making available of a recorded performance, plus a likeness or publicity right in their face, body and name. This means the two questions that actually matter for a dancer are what the production may do with footage of them, and for how long, and whether their image can be reused, resold, or fed to a model without asking again.
Performance consent, footage terms and likeness limits agreed before you step into the studio, not after the edit is out.
LAST REVIEWED
THE SITUATION
A dancer is booked for a shoot, a tour leg or a music video. The choreography is someone else's, the camera is someone else's, and the call sheet arrives with a one page release attached that grants the production perpetual, worldwide, all media rights to the footage. It is signed in a corridor, ten minutes before the first take, because refusing to sign means not dancing that day.
Two years later the same footage turns up in an advert, a game trailer or a training set for a generative model. The dancer was paid a day rate. The release said all media now known or hereafter devised, which is exactly the clause that covers media that did not exist when it was signed.
WHAT BREAKS.
THE CORRIDOR RELEASE
A perpetual, worldwide, all media performer release signed minutes before a call, with no fee tied to reuse and no carve out for advertising, endorsement or synthetic reproduction of the performer.
NO PERFORMER RIGHT ASSERTED
A dancer assuming they have no rights at all because they did not write the choreography, when performers hold a separate neighbouring right in the fixation of their own performance in most European jurisdictions.
LIKENESS TREATED AS FOOTAGE
A production treating consent to film as consent to use the dancer's face and body as a brand endorsement, which is a distinct permission requiring distinct wording and usually distinct payment.
MOTION CAPTURE WITHOUT LIMITS
A capture session where the movement data of a specific dancer is retained and reused across future titles, characters or products, with no term, no field of use, and no further fee.
CREDIT THAT NEVER ARRIVES
Contracted credit that is unenforceable in practice because the agreement names no format, no placement and no remedy for its omission.
COMPANY CONTRACTS THAT REACH FURTHER
A company or ensemble contract that quietly covers rehearsal footage, promotional stills and archival broadcast for the whole engagement, well beyond the performances the dancer thought they were agreeing to.
WHAT YOU CAN OWN.
COPYRIGHT
A dancer does not hold copyright in choreography they only perform, that belongs to the choreographer, though a dancer who authored the movement holds it as a choreographer too.
TRADEMARK
Not usually relevant to a performing dancer, unless a company or stage name is used as a commercial brand.
DESIGN RIGHT
Not applicable to performance, though a costume design is a separate matter belonging to its designer.
PATENT
Not applicable.
TRADE SECRET
Not applicable, performance is public by definition.
LIKENESS
The central right for a dancer. Face, body, name and captured movement used commercially or synthetically require specific consent, separate from any consent to be filmed.
FOUR STEPS.
DROP
Drop the performer release, the call sheet, the company contract or the capture agreement you were asked to sign.
EXAMINE
Deed finds the term, the territory, the media list and the endorsement and synthetic reproduction clauses, and says plainly what you are giving away for the day rate.
EXECUTE
A performer consent with a term, a named field of use, an advertising carve out and a reuse fee, signed before the shoot rather than in the corridor.
DEFEND
A dated record of exactly what you consented to, ready the day footage of you appears somewhere it was never licensed for.
KEY FACTS
- 01Performing choreography does not give a dancer any ownership of the choreography itself.
- 02Performers hold a separate neighbouring right in the recording of their own performance in most European jurisdictions, distinct from copyright.
- 03Consent to be filmed is not consent to be used as an endorsement, those are two permissions.
- 04All media now known or hereafter devised is the clause that captures uses that did not exist when the release was signed.
- 05Motion capture data taken from a named dancer can be reused indefinitely unless the capture agreement sets a term and a field of use.
QUESTIONS
+Do I own the routine I perform?
No, not unless you created it. Copyright in choreography belongs to the choreographer. What you hold is a right in your own performance and your own likeness.
+I signed a release on set. Can they use the footage in an advert?
It depends entirely on the wording. If the release lists advertising or grants all media with no carve out, then usually yes. That is the clause to change before signing, not after.
+Can my performance be used to train an AI model?
Only if the consent you gave is broad enough to cover it. A release written before generative models existed may still reach it through hereafter devised wording, which is why an explicit exclusion is worth asking for.
+What happens to motion capture of my movement?
Unless the agreement sets a term and limits the titles or products it may appear in, captured movement data can be reused indefinitely across future work with no further payment.
+Am I owed a credit?
Only if the contract says so, and only meaningfully if it names where the credit appears and what happens if it does not.