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Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer creates choreographies through the art of choreography, a process known as choreographing. It most commonly refers to dance choreography.

In dance, choreography may also refer to the design itself, sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. Dance choreography is sometimes called dance composition. Aspects of dance choreography include the compositional use of organic unity, rhythmic or non-rhythmic articulation, theme and variation, and repetition. The choreographic process may employ improvisation to develop innovative movement ideas. Generally, choreography designs dances intended to be performed as concert dance.

The art of choreography involves specifying human movement and form in terms of space, shape, time, and energy, typically within an emotional or non-literal context. Movement language is taken from dance techniques of ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, hip hop dance, folk dance, techno, K-pop, religious dance, pedestrian movement, or combinations of these.

The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" (circular dance, see choreia) and "γραφή" (writing). It first appeared in the American English dictionary in the 1950s, and "choreographer" was first used as a credit for George Balanchine in the Broadway show On Your Toes in 1936. Before this, stage and movie credits used phrases such as "ensembles staged by", "dances staged by", or simply "dances by" to denote the choreographer.

Dances are designed by applying one or both of these fundamental choreographic methods:

Improvisation, in which a choreographer provides dancers with a score (i.e., generalized directives) that serves as guidelines for improvised movement and form. For example, a score might direct one dancer to withdraw from another dancer, who in turn is directed to avoid the withdrawal, or it might specify a sequence of movements that are to be executed in an improvised manner over the course of a musical phrase, as in contra dance choreography. Improvisational scores typically offer wide latitude for personal interpretation by the dancer.

Planned choreography, in which a choreographer dictates motion and form in detail, leaving little or no opportunity for the dancer to exercise personal interpretation.

Several underlying techniques are commonly used in choreography for two or more dancers:

Mirroring - facing each other and doing the same

Retrograde - performing a sequence of moves in reverse order

Canon - people performing the same move one after the other

Today, choreography must impose some kind of order on the performance, within the three dimensions of space, the fourth dimension of time, and the capabilities of the human body.

In the performing arts, choreography applies to human movement and form. In dance, choreography is also known as dance choreography or dance composition. Choreography is also used in other fields, including opera,

cheerleading, theatre, marching band, synchronized swimming, cinematography, ice skating, gymnastics, fashion shows, show choir, cardistry, video game production, and animated art.

The International Choreographic Competition Hannover, Hanover, Germany, is the longest-running choreography competition in the world (started c. 1982), organised by the Ballett Gesellschaft Hannover e.V. It took place online during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, returning to the stage at the Theater am Aegi in 2022. Gregor Zöllig, head choreographer of dance at the Staatstheater Braunschweig was appointed artistic director of the competition in 2020. The main conditions of entry are that entrants must be under 40 years of age and professionally trained. The co