The term Dance Director was used in the first three decades of the twentieth century for stage and film work. At first, it simply meant the person who set movement, in contrast to the stage director, who was responsible for dialogue. The term became associated with popular dance—musical comedy, tap and stepping, character specialties, and social dance-derived production numbers—in contrast to ballet and modern dance, where the term ‘choreographer’ was favoured. The terminology was maintained in Prologues and early musical film, but is seldom used today.