To put it simply, no, I don't think it's ethical, especially if the teacher didn't specify that the choreography was free for the students to use whenever they felt like it. Not AS unethical as if this person were claiming the choreography as his/her own, and I'd give the person a few bonus points if they credited the teacher for the choreography, but still, performing a dance that is not a free dance for anyone to use without asking the teacher/creator's permission is bad ju-ju.

Sounds like someone out there needs to learn a little bit about the common courtesies of bellydance!

When I teach a choreography as part of a class, I teach it with the expectation that someone will perform it (assuming it's any good!). The people who take the class have paid for class and the knowledge within it, so if they take enough classes to learn the choreography, I consider it paid for by the student. I have also created choreographies as part of private lessons, and the price paid includes the dance taught.

If I teach troupe choreographies, I ask that they remain with the troupe (for troupe performances only) until they are retired or unless a troupe member asks to use it as a solo. In this instance, I'm just protecting the troupe from back-to-back performances of the same number.

My own solos are just that, my own, until I transmogrify them into troupe or class numbers. Usually that happens when I'm ready for a new solo!

Lots of words to mean, if you paid for class and were taught the choreography, imho you get to dance it! Properly attributed of course, since when you do your own, you will want all the compliments.

If it was meant for performance but only under certain terms, those terms should be given from the get-go and made quite clear before teaching it.

I, personally, would not feel comfortable performing a choreography regularly done by another group...period. However, if it was not made clear under what conditions the choreo was to be performed and only that it was meant to be performed, then their primary obligation to the teacher is to give credit for it.

I don't think it's ethical, and it may even be illegal from a copyright standpoint.

Copyright covers the "expression of an idea," which includes choreography.
It would be easy for the instructor to copyright her choreography and when she teaches it to state that it may not be used outside of her class performances.

people's evidence #1-A:

a video of the 2000 film "Bring It On"

hahaha case closed hahaha

Dancing someone's signature choreo is in poor taste.

I think that if the teacher taught it to her student troupe for the specific use as part of their performances, no one should be performing it who is not in that student troupe. However, if the student learned it as part of a choreo class or other more open class, they paid to learn it and they can use it as they wish. Like Valizan said, credit is nice...but in my mind, any teacher who teaches a combo or choreo in a non-troupe class needs to understand that it will probably be used elsewhere without them, and that either they should learn to live with that or not teach choreo.

So...it depends on the situation. But from how you describe it, it sounds pretty shady on the student's part.

I would say No to using the former teacher's choreography without permission. If it was a workshop teacher, it would be a different answer. They teach a choreography knowing it's you're going to use it (give credit where credit is due though).

It depends on whether or not the teacher established proprietary rights by stating (preferably numerous times) that the choreography is for use by her students only and they are not permitted to perform said choreography without her express written permission. It may be a smart thing for all teachers to have that clause on the registration forms - so you have signed proof.

If not, then the student paid to learn the dance and while it may be in an ethical gray area, she did purchase the information and has the right to use it. This is implied for choreographies we learn from videos and workshops.

What you CAN do, is demand credit for your intellectual property. So if she performs your work, she must somehow let the audience know 'Choreographed by:' so go to all of her public performances and when she fails to give you credit, document and then take legal action (or at least have a lawyer send a saber rattling letter about it)

I was thinking about this the other day, seeing as how I recently left my dance school.

For me, I decided that performing my former teacher's choreographies would be in bad taste - even the ones that weren't bad in the first place :P It's not mine, so I wouldn't perform her stuff in public without her permission.

My Ex-teacher, yes ex-teacher, has never taught me a choreography of her own. I do well not to perform any of the choreography she has taught me simply because I don't even know who it belongs to! Now can you see why I say "Ex-teacher". And to think, this was all I had to learn from for the first 2 years.
I think that if a teacher does not want his/her students to perform the choreography learned in class: 1) only teach a choreography that you don't mind being taken out of class, or 2) State very clearly prior to teaching the choreography that it is not to be take out of class.