Dance Musical
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The dance musical makes movement the primary storytelling engine, with choreography carrying as much narrative weight as song and the score written to drive extended dance sequences. Musically it favors strong, danceable grooves, rhythmic vamps, and expansive instrumental passages that give bodies room to move, whether Broadway jazz, pop, or classical Gershwin. The songs punctuate and frame the dancing rather than dominate, and the pit is built for propulsion. Tied to great choreographers, the form prizes ensemble precision and kinetic spectacle. The mood is athletic, exhilarating, and visual, the musical told chiefly through the moving body.
History
Dance had shaped musicals since Agnes de Mille's Oklahoma! dream ballet and Jerome Robbins's West Side Story, but A Chorus Line (1975), Michael Bennett's meta-musical about dancers auditioning, made dance itself the subject and won the Pulitzer. Bob Fosse's Dancin' and later Fosse celebrated pure choreography, Twyla Tharp built Movin' Out (2002) around Billy Joel songs and dance, and Newsies (2012) and An American in Paris (2015) foregrounded athletic and balletic movement. Driven by choreographer-directors, the dance musical turned the ensemble into the star and remains Broadway's most physically spectacular strain.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- One(1975) — Original Broadway Cast of A Chorus LineSpotifyYouTube
- What I Did for Love(1975) — Priscilla LopezSpotifyYouTube
- At the Ballet(1975) — Original Broadway Cast of A Chorus LineSpotifyYouTube
- I Hope I Get It(1975) — Original Broadway Cast of A Chorus LineSpotifyYouTube
- Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)(2002) — Michael CavanaughSpotifyYouTube
- Seize the Day(2012) — Original Broadway Cast of NewsiesSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Larry Stempel, Showtime (2010)
- Ken Mandelbaum, A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett
- Playbill features on dance on Broadway