Just to set it straight: a clarification.

just a clarification and a fun note...

Now that the Ballet Season is with us again, I think it would be the right time to write an elucidation about some peculiar things that have been happening for quite a while.

First, I don't (and won't) publish my Ballet critiques on Instagram – it is not the right Medium for it. I want to make this quite clear because, during the past season, I was made aware of (many) postings „imitating" the layout I use on a t t i t u d e for my critiques, and the use of English as the main language, coming from an “Opera goer”, just the way I do!

Just to set matters straight. I would never write critiques always praising, unjustifiably, the same member of the Corps de Ballet who is sometimes invisible to the audience (It is quite obvious that the person who is writing those „critiques" is either a friend or a fan of hers) and finishing every single review with a „speech" about Israel and Palestina. I would never do that. So please don't ever think that such unprofessional work is coming from me.

Also, I would like to denounce a certain critic (she is not a Ballet critic, she even asked me once what an „arabesque" is !?!?!) who used to come to me during each intermission to „ask" what I was thinking. Quite naȉve about such things I did not realize that she would use my thoughts and write and publish them as quickly as she came home – and I, who always like to sleep after the impressions of an evening and write the next day with a good cup of tea to keep me company, always published my thoughts after she had done it. So it looked as if I had stolen HER ideas!

One Dancer once called me and said „Oh, you published the same thoughts as D.R.". For the first time, I read one of her critiques, which are quite boring and common, as she just copies what is written in the programme – including its mistakes. But yes, the Dancer was right. I began to read other ones (Usually I do not read any critiques before I publish mine and I had never read Mrs R.) and detected the same procedure. She published what I had told her!

The next time she came over, I told her exactly the opposite of what I was thinking. She returned quickly to her box to write down all the information I had „given" her. Some days later, she told me angrily: „You wrote something completely different from what you had told me". Isn't this a shame? So much to the quality of press coverage and reporting...

To both „copy cases", I can only say that although plagiarism is not a criminal or civil offence, plagiarism is illegal if it infringes an author's intellectual property rights, including copyright or trademark. And by the way: It is also so inelegant… I’ll leave you with that!

Also, I would also like to denounce a certain "critic" (she is not really a Ballet critic. She has no idea of what she is writing and even asked me once what an „arabesque" is !?!?!), who used to come to me during each intermission to „ask" what I was thinking. Quite naȉvely about such things I did not realize that she would use my thoughts and write and publish them quickly as she came home – and I, who always write the next day with a good cup of tea to keep me company, always published my thoughts after she had done it. So it looked as if I had stolen HER ideas!

One Dancer once called me and said „Oh, you published the same thoughts as Mrs D.R.". For the first time, I read one of her critiques, which are quite boring as she copies what is written in the programme – including its mistakes. But yes, the Dancer was right. I began to read other ones (Usually I do not read any critiques before I publish mine and I had never read Mrs R.) and detected the same procedure.

The next time she approached me during an intermission at the Opera, I told her exactly the opposite of what I was thinking. She returned quickly to her box to write down all the information I had „given" her. Some days later, she told me: „You wrote something completely different from what you had told me". Isn't this a shame? So much to the quality of press coverage and reporting...

To both „copy cases", I can only say:

Although plagiarism is not a criminal or civil offence, plagiarism is illegal if it infringes an author's intellectual property rights, including copyright or trademark.