choreography

/ˈkɔriˌɑgrəfi/

/kɔriˈɒgrəfi/

Other forms: choreographies

Use the noun choreography to describe the plan for how dancers will move on a stage during a show, play, or dance. You might particularly love the choreography in the movie West Side Story.

You can use the word choreography to mean "dance" or "ballet," but its specific meaning is the notation a choreographer makes on paper as she plans out the complex movements and steps made by dancers. Choreography is particularly important in musical theater, ballet, opera, and dance recitals. The Greek roots of choreography are khoreia, "dance," and graphein, "to write."

Definitions of choreography

1. noun

   a series of dance steps and movements created for stage performances such as ballet, opera, musical theater, and figure skating
2. noun

   a show involving artistic dancing
   synonyms: stage dancing

   types:

   ballet, concert dance

   a theatrical representation of a story that is performed to music by trained dancers

   modern dance

   a style of theatrical dancing that is not as restricted as classical ballet; movements are expressive of feelings

   apache dance

   a violent fast dance in French vaudeville (an apache is a member of the French underworld)

   belly dance, belly dancing, danse du ventre

   a Middle Eastern dance in which the dancer makes sensuous movements of the hips and abdomen

   bolero

   a Spanish dance in triple time accompanied by guitar and castanets

   cakewalk

   a strutting dance based on a march; was performed in minstrel shows; originated as a competition among Black dancers to win a cake

   cancan

   a high-kicking dance of French origin performed by a female chorus line

   nude dancing

   erotic dancing with little or no clothing

   classical ballet

   a style of ballet based on precise conventional steps performed with graceful and flowing movements

   modern ballet

   a style of ballet that admits a wider variety of movements

   comedy ballet

   a ballet that stresses the drama with features of comedy

   fan dance

   a solo dance in which large fans are manipulated to suggest or reveal nakedness

   strip, strip show, striptease

   a form of erotic entertainment in which a dancer gradually undresses to music

   bubble dance

   a solo dance similar to a fan dance except large balloons are used instead of fans

   interpretative dance, interpretative dancing, interpretive dance, interpretive dancing

   a form of modern dance in which the dancer's movements depict an emotion or tell a story

   type of:

   dance, dancing, saltation, terpsichore

   taking a series of rhythmical steps (and movements) in time to music

   show

   a social event involving a public performance or entertainment
3. noun

   the representation of dancing by symbols as music is represented by notes
   type of:

   dance

   an artistic form of nonverbal communication
4. noun

   a notation used by choreographers
   types:

   Labanotation

   a system of notation for dance movements that uses symbols to represent points on a dancer's body and the direction of the dancer's movement and the tempo and the dynamics

   type of:

   notation, notational system

   a technical system of symbols used to represent special things
5. noun

   something likened to a series of planned dance arrangements