Coincidence not

Imagine Haglund’s dismay when he saw some of the content from his review of NYCB’s January 31st performance tucked into passages of Marina Harss’ later and much longer review of the same performance which appeared in the online U.K. dance blog, DanceTabs. It is true that sometimes bright minds think alike and may occasionally come up with the same word or thought, but arranging them in the same sequence in a sentence? Nuh-uh. And so many instances at one time? Don’t think so.

Haglund reached out to the DanceTabs editor about the matter. The blog's editor reviewed it and contacted Harss who denied dipping into H.H. for content in much the same way that she denied it a few years ago when writing for the blog, Faster Times. The editor decided not to make changes to Harss' DanceTabs review. It seems that a few lifted items within a review of a couple of thousand words may not be plagiarism really worth getting fussy about – it's just a bit of free food that the writer snatched off the plate of an anonymous blogger.

Haglund is saddened by the inaction. A few years back he had such a positive experience with the editors of a San Gabriel Valley newspaper when one of its writers lifted content out of Haglund’s Heel for a review of an ABT performance in LA. Those editors didn’t bother to cleanse the online copy; they took it down altogether.

Haglund hopes that this puts an end to future problems of this nature and wishes that his four tries to resolve the matter in a more discreet fashion had been successful.