choreographer

American  

[kawr-ee-og-ruh-fer, kohr-] / ˌkɔr iˈɒg rə fər, ˌkoʊr- /

noun

1. a person who creates dance compositions and plans and arranges dance movements and patterns for dances and especially for ballets.

---

Etymology

Origin of choreographer

First recorded in 1885–90; choreograph(y) + -er ¹

Explanation

A choreographer is a person who creates a dance, designing every move that the dancers make. The choreographer of a preschool performance will usually have the little dancers do simple movements, spins, and kicks. Choreographer is from choreography and its Greek roots, khoreia, "dance," and graphein, "to write." Choreographers are like composers, but instead of creating music, they compose movements, writing out notations that symbolize how dancers will move. It was a choreographer's job to plan out the Jets-Sharks fight in West Side Story — and the dance moves in your favorite music videos.

Example Sentences

The choreographer asked her costume designer, Robert Perdziola, to dress her dancers in a variety of looks, with flouncy tutus for the women in her first movement and limp, longer skirts in the others.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

Another surveillance video showed the same red Hyundai arriving at an apartment block, with Evans handling suitcases believed to belong to Beyoncé choreographer Christopher Grant and dancer Diandre Blue.

From BBC • May 13, 2026

FKA twigs, who is also a singer and choreographer, said Baker's "extraordinary legacy is such an inspiration to me and to so many people".

From Barron's • May 12, 2026

That studio was later used by dancer and choreographer Valerie Bettis, who crafted routines for some of Hollywood and Broadway’s biggest heavyweights, including famed screen siren Rita Hayworth.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

The director of her violin band was the Italian-born choreographer, composer, conductor and violinist Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall