Glossary
Choreographer Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential choreographer terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key choreographer vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in choreographer training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Audition
- Tryout.
- Canon
- Same movement at staggered times.
- Cleaning
- Fixing details.
- Counts
- Beats for timing.
- Downstage
- Front of the stage.
- Formation
- Dancer positions.
- Improvisation
- Unplanned movement.
- Marking
- Walking through movement.
- Phrase
- Sequence of movements.
- Reel
- Video portfolio.
- Repertory
- Company’s works.
- SDC
- Choreographers union.
- Spacing
- Stage placement.
- Unison
- Moving together.
- Upstage
- Back of the stage.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Choreographer practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Choreographer training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.