Display/Copy Only is the result of a collaboration between choreographer Joanne Leighton and a quintet of male dancers. The piece takes the work of other artists as the basis for a new, original work. In doing so, the work explores the status of an “original work”, the nature of copying, and also the ownership of a piece in regards to its creator, viewers and other artistic practitioners.

For 1 Euro, Joanne Leighton bought the rights to reproduce and transform a series of short choreographic works from 13 choreographers and architects (Choreopraphers/architects: Pierre Blondel, Isabelle Dekeyser, Odile Duboc, Frédéric Flamand, Jean‑Claude Gallotta, Lhoas et Lhoas, Russel Maliphant, Steve Paxton, Fabrice Ramalingom, Rudy Ricciotti, Philippe Saire, Thierry Smits, Marie-Clara Villalobos).

The choice of contribution was left entirely up to the choreographers, dancers and architects. Some chose to create directly on the dancers of the company, others gave extracts from their existing choreographies, some gave improvisational tasks or detailed instructions.

The company consequently used this second-hand material in the making of a new original work. In making Display/Copy Only, the object was not to simply re-present this bought material, but to create an original piece using non-original material. As such, the original material has been substantially transformed, through processes such as imitation, juxtaposition, super-position, fracture, and de-construction. The work plays on the copy versus the original, appropriation versus creation, and real versus fake, to make a saleable object, a performance. The title refers to a shop model, an exhibited facsimile of a real object - but not the sellable object itself.

This utilization of existing elements to create a new original work is current in a number of artistic practices. In music, the contemporary use of “sampling” is the most obvious. With this technique, “samples” or fragments of existing musical works, often used repetitively in “loops”, are incorporated into a new creation. Such use of samples can be subtle and for the most part hidden from the listener, or obvious to the point of providing the primary foreground material. However, in both these cases, the success or otherwise of the new work is independent of the use of the borrowed material. The work of composition and creation remain the primary determinant of the success of the work.

Another example of this type of creative process is found in the works of Pop Art icons and Roy Lichtenstein with his dot paintings derived from cartoon illustrations, and in particular, Andy Warhol with his screen-print based works.

Warhol’s work took images from mass culture – advertising posters for Coca-Cola and soup cans, photos of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Chairman Mao, and prints of existing works such as “La Joconde” or de Vinci’s “The Last Supper”. Not only did he use these frequently reproduced works as the basis for his own, but he reproduced and copied his own works to the extent that it becomes impossible to discern a single “original” work. Such notions as “original” and “copy” disappear in a chain of borrowing, reproduction, and multiplication as Warhol challenges the notion of the singular uniqueness of an artistic creation.

Based in Paris Ile-de-France, Joanne  Leighton is a Belgian-Australian choreographer and pedagogue. Her  professional career is linked to an original, dynamic and constantly  evolving vision of dance and her discourse is permeated by an emphasis  on dialogue and exchange, both with the public and with her artistic  collaborators. Central to her work lies the notion of site, territory  and identity, which are for Joanne Leighton interdependent spaces.

Joanne Leighton is the representative choreographer of the  administrative council of the SACD (French Society of Composers and  Dramatic Authors) and the Beaumarchais 2018 – 2020. She is also a member  of the administrative council of La Maison du Geste et de l'Image in  Paris. 

After dancing in the Australian Dance Theater (1986-1991), Joanne  Leighton moved to Europe, living and performing in London for 2 years.  Her company Velvet was formed in Brussels from 1993 - 2010, where she  established her choreographic work, active for over 18 years. She was  choreographer in residence at the Raffinery - Charleroi/Danses  (2003-2005) and Les Halles de Schaerbeek (2005-2007). In 1994 and in  2010 she received the SACD Prize (Society of Composers and Dramatic  Authors) for her choreographic work. Joanne Leighton has been  commissioned to create work for international companies such as the  Dance Theater of Ireland (2001); in Belgium for Charleroi Danses (2005);  in France for the Ballet de Lorraine (2014) and in Switzerland for the  company Marchepied (2015).

Director of the National Choreographic Center of Franche-Comté in  Belfort in France (2010 – 2015), Joanne Leighton formed WLDN in 2015.  WLDN is a project, philosophy and platform for her choreographic  research and creation. Her works have been performed nationally and  internationally in theaters, urban and industrial spaces, art galleries,  town squares, on rooftops and presented on screens and smartphones.  Joanne Leighton's choreographic work has been co-produced and presented  on international stages for over 20 years, with over 30 productions  touring to France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Ireland, Italy,  Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, Wales, the United Kingdom,  Australia and Cuba.

Joanne Leighton’s choreographic work includes Corps Exquis (2019) a piece for 3 dancers around an exquisite corpse for 58 choreographers; I am sitting in a room,  a movement study of the sitting position performed by four poetic  clowns on the eponymous text by American composer Alvin Lucier; Exquisite Corpse (2012) an exquisite corpse for 7 dancers ; Made in…Series,  a large scale ‘architecture in movement’ for 99 participants performed  in situ and (re)created in France, Denmark, Germany, Australia,  Switzerland, Cuba; The Modulables, a series of site-specific pieces  between installation and performance with an ambulatory public, which  have been evolving over a period of 10 years. In 2014, Joanne Leighton  and the director Christoph Frick co-sign Melting Pot for 9 young  performers from immigrant backgrounds, a cultural exchange between the  Theater Freiburg, the CCN of Belfort and Junges Theater Basel. Chair Dances,  an evolutive virtual digital gallery comprising over 30 short  choreographic films by diverse choreographers involving chairs, was  initiated by Joanne Leighton in 2010.

In 2015 Joanne Leighton initiated a trilogy of works which will span 5 years with her signature piece 9000 Steps, performed by six dancers on a bed of salt to the music Drumming, Steve Reich. This work was followed in 2018 with Songlines, for eight dancers, created to the fascinating musical composition In C by Terry Riley. This trilogy will conclude with her production People United in 2021.

In September 2011, Joanne Leighton launched her large scale work, The Vigil,  whereby each morning and evening at sunrise and sunset over 365 days, a  participant holds watch over the city for one hour, a work for 730  inhabitants and performed over 365 consecutive days. Around these same  principals this choreography has been mounted for the towns Belfort  (September 2011 – September 2012) ; Laval (15th September 2012 – 15th  September 2013) ; Rennes (30th September 2012 – 29th September 2013)  Haguenau (1st January – 31st December 2015), Freiburg, Germany (20th  June 2015 – 19th June 2016) and Evreux, France for the Le Tangram, Scène  Nationale (22nd September 2017 – 22nd September 2018) ;  Dordrecht, for  the Schouwburg Kunstmin in Holland (1st Mai 2019 – 30th April 2020) ,  and eigth project, The Graz Vigil Austria (1st January 2020 -  31st December 2020) for La Strada, is currently in performance. The  Münich Vigil - Türmer München, is due to start shortly (12th December  12th 2020 - 12th December 2021) ; along with The Hull Vigil (20th March  2021 - 19th March 2022) for the Freedom Festival of Hull in the United  Kingdom.

In parallel to this work, Joanne Leighton initiated a series of  walking pieces as with Walk#1 Belfort – Freiburg, where she walked a  path between two Vigil sites by following waterways over 127 kms in four  days. Since 2014 these ‘walking dances’ are part of her choreographic  practice. In September 2017, Joanne Leighton mounted Walk, a performance  over 25 km linking the four theaters of Paris Réseau Danse, with an  open call for participants to join her. Her work Salt Circle concluded this unique event at Atelier de Paris/CDCN. Her walking projects such as Walking as Remembering (2019) weave into her choreographic practice and stage work.

An internationally recognized pedagogue, Joanne Leighton regularly  gives lectures and workshops. She has taught for companies such as  Jean-Claude Gallotta, Catherine Diverrès, Angelin Preljocaj, Trisha  Brown Company, Batsheva Company, Charleroi / Danses, AMNT in Tokyo, Need  Company, Rosas, Wim Vandekeybus, and dance centers like the Seoul  International Choreographic Center (South Korea); The Menagerie de  Verre, Paris; Centre National Danse in Paris; Atelier de Paris / CDCN;  PARTS; Dansens House in Copenhagen; and the Croatian Institute for  Movement and Dance / Zagreb Dance Center. She has also taught in art  schools such as the fine arts school in Toulouse.

Interested in finding new ways of being, doing, thinking, working,  making and presenting, Joanne Leighton seeks to embrace a radically  different approach to access, ownership, and authorship in contemporary  dance performance.