ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the growing use of choreographic trusts to secure proper management of a choreographer's dance legacy, focusing on the legal status of those of George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton, Jerome Robbins, and Merce Cunningham, with consideration also given to Martha Graham's will. It reviews the nature of trusts and issues relevant to dance copyright and preservation. Trustees possess legal authority to carry out functions that may be beyond the means of an individual beneficiary. The private trust serves the interests of an individual, a group, or a class of persons, while a charitable trust is for the benefit of the public. Robbins created his trust with powers to administer the licensing and restaging of his works and to distribute the profits to designated beneficiaries. Charitable trusts such as those adopted for management of the legacies of Balanchine, Robbins, and Cunningham are organizations with charitable ends as their main object.
