- Ron Protas
Ron Protas is the former Associate Director of the
Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and heir ofmodern dance choreographer Martha Graham .Agnes de Mille writes in "Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham" that in the late 1960s Protas, who had been a law student atColumbia University , became introduced to the Martha Graham Dance Company. De Mille writes that Protas was not well liked by company members, as he was not a dancer and had no reason to be involved with the company. Initially, Graham did not like Protas. But when Graham's health began to fail, as a result of heralcoholism and depression over having to retire from her performing career, Protas stepped in and nursed Graham back to health. De Mille writes that over the next several years the influence of Protas grew, eventually he and Graham restructured the company entirely. According to de Mille, Protas soon embarked on a campaign to copyright the Martha Graham Dance Technique: "Now, under the guidance of Ron Protas, there was an attempt to charge royalties for all usage, not only of composed dances, but of actual technique: an impossible objective." Eventually, Protas became the second most powerful person in the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, second only to the founder herself. ["Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham" by Agnes de Mille (ISBN 0-679-74176-3): Page 410]In her autobiography "Blood Memory" Martha Graham writes that she trained Protas in her dance technique and that he will be her heir upon her death. [Blood Memory" by Martha Graham (ISBN 0-385-26503-4)]
Shortly after the death of Martha Graham, Mr. Protas sued the
Martha Graham Dance Company , forbidding them from performing Martha Graham's choreography. Only after a lengthy and multi-million-dollar legal battle were the rights to the choreographic works restored the Martha Graham Dance Company. [The New Yorker : The Martha Graham Dance Company returns to New York: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/02/17/030217crda_dancing]Notes
ee also
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Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance External links
* [http://www.villagevoice.com/dance/0031,mattingly,16865,14.html Village Voice: "Maelstrom at Martha's"]
* [http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_02/apr02/bmc_martha_graham.htm Ballet Magazine: "Who Owns Martha Graham's Work?"]
* [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/ron_protas/index.html New York Times archive of Ron Protas articles]
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