Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker Calls Out Beyonce's 'Countdown' for Plagiarism

(PacificCoastNews)

Beyonce (FlyNet Pictures)
There are quite a few references played out in the new music video for Beyonce Knowles' single "Countdown," some of them far more obvious than others.
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The video's director, Adria Petty, explained to MTV, "I brought Beyoncé a number of references and we picked some out together. Most were German modern-dance references, believe it or not. But it really evolved."

Most fans will be able to pick up on the visual allusions to icons Audrey Hepburn, Diana Ross and Whitney Houston, but few would have noticed the shocking similarities between dance sequences in "Countdown" and the work of Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker were it not for the good old Internet.

This isn't the first time Beyonce's been accused of plagiarizing concepts: Earlier this year, eagle-eyed viewers noted that her Billboard Music Awards performance was strikingly similar to that of Italian pop star Lorella Cuccarini. It turned out that Knowles, inspired by Cuccarini's performance, had met with people on the other singer's creative team.

It doesn't sound like Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker had signed off on this sampling of her work, however. When contacted by a Danish blog, she said, "I didn't know anything about this. I'm not mad, but this is plagiarism. This is stealing. They took pieces from Achterland and Rosas danst Rosas. ... It's a bit rude, I must say. ... What's rude about it is that they don't even bother about hiding it. They seem to think they could do it because it's a famous work. ... Am I honored? Look, I've seen local school kids doing this. That's a lot more beautiful."

Check out the comparison. Beyonce has some explaining to do!

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