Ron Protas is the former Associate Director of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and heir of modern 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 at Columbia University, was 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 her alcoholism 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 Protas' influence 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. [1]
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. [2]
Shortly after Graham's death, Mr. Protas sued the Martha Graham Dance Company, forbidding them from performing Graham's choreography. After a lengthy and multi-million-dollar legal battle, the rights to the choreographic works were restored the Martha Graham Dance Company. [3]
Notes [link]
- ^ "Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham" by Agnes de Mille (ISBN 0-679-74176-3): Page 410
- ^ Blood Memory" by Martha Graham (ISBN 0-385-26503-4)
- ^ The New Yorker: The Martha Graham Dance Company returns to New York: https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/02/17/030217crda_dancing
