Traditionally, musical comedy, whether produced on Broadway, in other famous venues or in the movies, is based on singing and dancing rather than character and plot. Dancing plays a major role in most musicals, and may range anywhere from tap to disco to modern to ballroom and combinations thereof.

Decades ago the Ziegfeld Follies typified the Broadway musical, with hundreds of beautiful women in elaborate costume, singing and dancing and spectacular scenery. Somewhat later, musicals began to have more story line, and featured more organized dancing, with chorus lines and individual performers. Today, dancing continues to be a major component of musicals in the theatre or in the movies.

Over decades different styles of dancing have been popularized in musicals. In the 1930's and 40's, tap dancing became a focus of some musicals, and created stars of dancers proficient in this style of dancing. Glorified ballroom styles of dancing have also been used in musicals. Many chorus numbers, however, use dancing styles that involve groups, sometimes with partners, sometimes without. The famous Radio City Rockettes have performed chorus line numbers for decades, with fairly uncomplicated dancing routines involving much of their famous high kicking.

Musicals of course include some of the famous ballet performances, and highly skilled dancing is integral to the musical…in fact, it is the essence of all ballet theatre.

Motion pictures in recent years have included many fine musicals, including a remake of the famous "42nd Street", "Dirty Dancing" and "Tango", which featured that popular Latin American dance.

During the 1930's and 40's, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire became famous as a couple, and the dancing in the movies in which they starred was a combination of ballroom, tap and highly individualized movements which were unique to that dancing pair. As dancing was the integral ingredient in these movies, although they had some plot, they were essentially musicals.

Dancing is an important element in our society today. Culturally, dancing has always been seen as a form of entertainment as well, appearing in its many forms in musicals performed on the stage or adapted to movies. Undoubtedly dancing will continue to be an important part of musicals designed for performance on Broadway or in smaller theatres, as well as in motion picture musicals.