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Choreographer
Creates dance sequences for performances, music videos, films, and ceremonies.
Did you know?
Michael Jackson didn't invent the moonwalk: Cab Calloway did a version in the 1930s, and mime Marcel Marceau used one in the 1940s.
How subjects help
- Dance: Create steps and formations that turn a song into a story told with movement.
- Music: Count bars and beats so every move lands exactly on the rhythm.
- Anatomy: Design moves that stretch dancers' bodies without straining joints or causing injury.
- Psychology: Encourage dancers and read the mood in a rehearsal room to get their best performance.
A famous name
Martha Graham: American dancer and choreographer who created a new style of modern dance in the 1920s-30s.
Try it yourself: Direct a frozen stage picture
- Pick one exciting moment from a story everyone knows, like the wolf knocking at the door.
- As director, put your actors into a silent, frozen picture. Use different levels (high, middle, low), clear faces and body shapes. Keep poses low and steady: no lifting people or standing on furniture.
- Work on distance and eye contact: who is close, who is far, who is looking at whom? Turn bodies halfway towards the audience so faces can be seen.
- Hold the freeze for five seconds while someone guesses the moment. Then make the moment just before and just after, so three pictures tell the story.
Directors and choreographers arrange exactly where performers stand, how high or low they are and where they look, so the audience can read the story from a single stage picture.
Adapted from Arts Impact: Arts Foundations theatre lesson: Creating Tableau.
Also try: Make a soundscape with kitchen sounds.
Known for it in
USA, France, UK, South Korea, Cuba