Parents Floor routines

[nycgymmom]

If you switch gyms and just got your floor routine from old gym. Can you still use the routine in the new gym.

 

[John]

Our gym will allow this. But the coach in charge of choreography may tweak things she does not like. I beleive the next year you would be required to get a new routine.

DD was retaught all dance moves. Leaps jumps and skills were acceptable but her dance technique was not up to standards.

She is slightly old school but in my opinion she makes incredible routines. She is employed by other gyms to choreograph floor routines as well.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

It very much depends on the gym. We left a gym on very good terms but they didn’t allow anyone to keep their floor routine.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Depends on both the gyms. We’ve had gyms that “owned” the choreography despite parents paying for it. It was when everyone had the same routines, so we weren’t really paying for choreography though- it was just called that. We were paying for the semi-private lessons to learn it.

We’ve also been to gyms that wouldn’t allow a girl to bring a routine under any circumstances- they had a choreographer they liked and everyone went through them.

This go-round my DD is has brought a routine to a new gym successfully. It was especially choreographed for her by an amazing choreographer and she never got to compete it. She told her gym up front that she already had her routine. I’m happy because I love the routine but also because it saved me hundreds of dollars.

Anyway, it never hurts to ask!

 

[Aussie_coach]

I would say that is a big no no.

Even if the parent paid for the choreography, through copyright laws the gym still owns the choreography. This is brought up,often through dance studios and the studio owns any choreography that anyone was hired to teach in their studio even if the family pays for it.

The old gym will probabaly want to pass it onto a different gymnast.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I would say that is a big no no.

Even if the parent paid for the choreography, through copyright laws the gym still owns the choreography. This is brought up,often through dance studios and the studio owns any choreography that anyone was hired to teach in their studio even if the family pays for it.

The old gym will probabaly want to pass it onto a different gymnast.

If a gymnast receives truly individual and original choreography, how could a gym pass it on even if it wanted to? Now that my daughter is gone, the old coaches and the old gym wouldn’t even know the choreography unless she came and did the routine for them.

 

[raenndrops]

We have had girls bring in their choreography. There was no problem.

 

[John]

I have heard of gyms that allows a gymnast to sell her level 6 routine as she moves on and a new level 6 begins.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I would say that is a big no no.

Even if the parent paid for the choreography, through copyright laws the gym still owns the choreography. This is brought up,often through dance studios and the studio owns any choreography that anyone was hired to teach in their studio even if the family pays for it.

The old gym will probabaly want to pass it onto a different gymnast.

So your gyms apply for a copyright license on all their routines ???

I know our Gym doesn’t. Personally I paid for the choreography it’s mine. Just like I paid for the music it’s mine to use . Now whether another Gym would allow it who knows. But some of that is about making money for the gym and some of it is about standards and style of the gym

 

[Texasmomof3]

I would say that is a big no no.

Even if the parent paid for the choreography, through copyright laws the gym still owns the choreography. This is brought up,often through dance studios and the studio owns any choreography that anyone was hired to teach in their studio even if the family pays for it.

The old gym will probabaly want to pass it onto a different gymnast.

This is not true in the US. Unless you signed a written agreement with the choreographer, the gymnast has purchased the routine.

 

[GymMom4]

My daughter switched gyms and the new gym wanted her to make a brand new start with new choreography on beam and floor. It cost us too much but she has routines that have been tailored to her strengths, which her previous routines were not. And now we can start fresh without hanging onto anything from the old place.

 

[3rd_time_around]

I would say that is a big no no.

Even if the parent paid for the choreography, through copyright laws the gym still owns the choreography. This is brought up,often through dance studios and the studio owns any choreography that anyone was hired to teach in their studio even if the family pays for it.

The old gym will probabaly want to pass it onto a different gymnast.

Good choreography is tailored to the gymnast. The music is paid for by the gymnast, the time and choreography is paid for by the gymnast. Who can say that they can't go to another gym and use the music they paid for and the routine they paid for? my dd's gym has become a place where many new faces transfer in, not only each new season, but all throughout the year. They are all allowed to bring their music and use their routine. The only thing they can't do is wear another gym's team leotard for competition.

 

[Aussie_coach]

So your gyms apply for a copyright license on all their routines ???

I know our Gym doesn’t. Personally I paid for the choreography it’s mine. Just like I paid for the music it’s mine to use . Now whether another Gym would allow it who knows. But some of that is about making money for the gym and some of it is about standards and style of the gym

You don't need to apply for a copyright licence. According to US law, as soon as a routine has been fixed in some tangible form (ie written down, recorded, videoed etc) then it is automatically afforded copyright protection (the same rules as we have in Australia).

Also according to US law the employer (in this case the gym) owns the copyright, not the choreographer (considered the employee) and not the gymnast (considered the client).

The only way the routine isn't copyrighted, is if it was never recorded or written down.

 

[raenndrops]

You don't need to apply for a copyright licence. According to US law, as soon as a routine has been fixed in some tangible form (ie written down, recorded, videoed etc) then it is automatically afforded copyright protection (the same rules as we have in Australia).

Also according to US law the employer (in this case the gym) owns the copyright, not the choreographer (considered the employee) and not the gymnast (considered the client).

The only way the routine isn't copyrighted, is if it was never recorded or written down.

So what if the gymnast choreographed it herself... at home?
Or if it was done at the gym, but the choreographer was NOT hired by the gym and was NOT affiliated with the gym... and it was done while the gym was closed (our gym is inside a high school and the gym doors cant be locked)?
What I am saying is that sometimes the choreographer is employed directly by the parent / gymnast. Therefore, the parent/gymnast would be the employer with the copyright.

And it really only matters if the gym you are leaving is being "sticks" about it.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

You don't need to apply for a copyright licence. According to US law, as soon as a routine has been fixed in some tangible form (ie written down, recorded, videoed etc) then it is automatically afforded copyright protection (the same rules as we have in Australia).

Also according to US law the employer (in this case the gym) owns the copyright, not the choreographer (considered the employee) and not the gymnast (considered the client).

The only way the routine isn't copyrighted, is if it was never recorded or written down.

Ok let’s go with that.

And the “damages” would be???? On a routine that earns no money....

There are none. Just silly.

 

[MILgymFAM]

You don't need to apply for a copyright licence. According to US law, as soon as a routine has been fixed in some tangible form (ie written down, recorded, videoed etc) then it is automatically afforded copyright protection (the same rules as we have in Australia).

Also according to US law the employer (in this case the gym) owns the copyright, not the choreographer (considered the employee) and not the gymnast (considered the client).

The only way the routine isn't copyrighted, is if it was never recorded or written down.

I’d argue that the choreographer is a contracted employee of the gymnast, not the gym. No form of payment changes hands between the gym and choreographer at all- every gym we’ve been to the gymnast pays the choreographer directly, in cash, for their time. I’ve also never been to a gym that writes down or records routines. Only parents do that, and again the business relationship is between the family that pays and the choreographer. The gym is simply gifting the use of their facilities. Plus, as mentioned above, what damages could possibly be attached to a girl doing a routine choreographed for her and paid for by her?

 

[Texasmomof3]

You don't need to apply for a copyright licence. According to US law, as soon as a routine has been fixed in some tangible form (ie written down, recorded, videoed etc) then it is automatically afforded copyright protection (the same rules as we have in Australia).

Also according to US law the employer (in this case the gym) owns the copyright, not the choreographer (considered the employee) and not the gymnast (considered the client).

The only way the routine isn't copyrighted, is if it was never recorded or written down.

But this simply is not fact and whoever is telling you about US copyright ownership is wrong. At my gym, the family contracts with and pays a choreographer for a custom routine. The gym is not a party to the transaction at all and has no ownership interest in the choreography. This would be a "contract to hire" situation under US law.

And under the contract to hire doctrine, the employer (the one who pays the freelancer for the choreography work) owns the resulting routine unless there is a written contractual agreement otherwise.

What you are suggesting would be if the parent has licensed use of a routine from the gym instead of buying a routine from a choreographer. And maybe some people do that. But at my gym, we do not license use of the gym's intellectual property. We buy a custom routine from a choreographer.

 

[duyetanh]

We have a few girls that came over to our gym after state. They are getting new floor routines and doing "hybrids" of their old beam routines....meaning there is some of their old routines in it, but they have changed things like their mounts, some of their dance, etc. I actually think that is a very cool way of the coach to do things-this way it really is a new routine, but has pieces from their old one. I also know that one of the girls really liked some of her dance moves on the old floor routine, so she lobbied, and got to keep them in the new routine.

When my dd got a new floor routine, even though it was at the same gym, she didn't want to keep ANY of her old stuff, even though there was one move in there that was so cool and always got the judges attention....sigh. She said, "Out with the old, onward and upward!" LOL.

 

[John]

New gym choreographer, one of her caches, ask DD is she had something favorite she wanted in her routine. DD has kind of invented her own dismount on floor two seasons ago. She does a round off to her knees and rebounds from knees to sort of standing present. She is very proud of it.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

New gym choreographer, one of her caches, ask DD is she had something favorite she wanted in her routine. DD has kind of invented her own dismount on floor two seasons ago. She does a round off to her knees and rebounds from knees to sort of standing present. She is very proud of it.

Puma Jr would love that! She does this “butt bounce” thing in her routine that to be honest, I don’t love, but she does and that’s what matters!