{{short description|Group of dancers who perform synchronized routines}} {{for|the Broadway musical|A Chorus Line}} {{redirect|chorus girl|other uses|Chorus Girl (disambiguation)}} Theatrical poster from 1900 showing an early chorus line.|thumb|upright [[File:Gold Diggers of 1933 ("Style F" door panel - chorus girl).jpg|One of the 200 chorus girls appearing in the American film ''Gold Diggers of 1933''.|thumb|upright]] thumb|right|A modern chorus line. A '''chorus line''' is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. While synchronized dancing indicative of a chorus line was vogue during the first half of the 20th century, modern theatre uses the terms "ensemble" and "chorus" to indicate all supporting players in a stage production.
== History == {{Tone|date=April 2026|section}} In the mid-1800s, chorus lines of cartwheeling, synchronized dancing can-can "girls" began sprouting up throughout Paris with even edgier, more erotic cabarets found in venues like the Moulin Rouge, Le Lido, and the Folies Bergẻre. By the late 1860s, the scandalous trend found its way to the United States with a more conservative trend of chorus lines hitting England, including Tiller Girls and Gaiety Girls. Chorus lines throughout Western Europe and the United States largely owned the stages of the early twentieth century.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Lowbrow |first=Yeoman |date=2017-10-22 |title=Chorus Line Dancers and Can-Can Girls from the 1920s-1960s |url=https://flashbak.com/chorus-line-dancers-can-can-girls-1920s-1960s-388803/ |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=Flashbak |language=en-US}}</ref> Chorus line dancers in early Broadway musicals and revues were referred to by slang terms such as ''ponies'', ''gypsies'' and ''twirlies''.
Chorus lines hit vogue in the 1920s and 30s, as the life and possibilities of a "chorus girl" became sensationalized in fiction, newspapers, and film, capturing the imaginations of young women seeking independence, adventure, and a happily ever after. Real-life examples of the Cinderella narrative included Lilian Russel and Billie Dove, both of whom began their careers as chorus girls and married into wealth.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Victoria |first=Ava |date=5 May 2022 |title=The Life of a Chorus Girl |url=https://thevintagewomanmagazine.com/the-life-of-a-chorus-girl/ |access-date=5 May 2022 |website=The Vintage Woman |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230731175402/https://thevintagewomanmagazine.com/the-life-of-a-chorus-girl/ |archive-date = 31 Jul 2023}}</ref>
The chorus line was a common place of entry for women hoping to make a career out of performing. Some women, who started successful careers in the performing arts as chorus girls include Paulette Goddard, Barbara Stanwyck, and Betty Grable.<ref name=":0" />
One of the most popular productions of the time was the Ziegfeld Follies, operating out of New York City, which was well-known for hiring only the most striking women for the chorus line. Florenz Ziegfeld Jr received the reputation of being able to objectively define and select exceptionally beautiful women.<ref name=":0" /> Ziegfeld's standards, then, soon became the ideal, and publications and news articles circulated with headlines like, "How I pick my Beauties" and "Picking out pretty girls for the stage".<ref name=":0" />
Decades later, chorus lines of a more erotic flavor found huge success in Las Vegas, before declining again in the face of competition from burlesque and strip clubs.<ref name=":1" />
Some popular chorus lines found their way onto the golden screen. One group in particular was Samuel Goldwyn's dancers, the Goldwyn Girls. Popping up in numerous MGM productions, the famous Goldwyn Girls included stars who went on to find great success on-screen like Lucille Ball, Virginia Mayo, and Jane Wyman.<ref name=":1" />
To this day, some live performance venues keep the traditional chorus line alive with groups like The Rockettes, but more frequently the term "chorus line" in modern terms is used to differentiate supporting singers and dancers of any gender in a musical or musical revue from the lead actors or performers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of CHORUS LINE |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chorus+line |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>
==Famous chorus lines== * Gaiety Girls (started in England during the 1890s) * Tiller Girls (international act starting in the 1890s) * Ziegfeld girls * The Rockettes (U.S. act founded in 1925)
==Famous performers== Performers who started out dancing in traditional chorus lines include: {{div col|colwidth=12em}} * Louise Alexander<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stuart|first1=Judson D.|title=The High Cost of Stage Beauty|journal=The Theatre|page=240|publisher=The Theatre Magazine Co.|location=New York, New York|date=May 1915|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MQ8-AQAAMAAJ&q=%22louise%20alexander%22 |access-date =June 18, 2021|via=Google books}} </ref> * June Allyson * Carroll Baker * Josephine Baker<ref name=Cantu49>Cantu, Maya. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4y_eCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 American Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from Irene to Gypsy]'', p. 49 (Palgrave Macmillan 2015).</ref> * Lucille Ball<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fentonhistorycenter.org/special-features/lucille-ball/timeline-of-lucille-balls-life-career/ |title=Timeline of Lucille Ball's Life & Career - Fenton History Center |access-date=2017-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107005256/https://www.fentonhistorycenter.org/special-features/lucille-ball/timeline-of-lucille-balls-life-career/ |archive-date=2017-11-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Betty Boothroyd<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/830452.stm |title=Profile: 'Call me Madam' |work=BBC News |date=2000-10-23 |access-date=2012-09-09}}</ref> * Anise Boyer<ref>{{Cite news|date=October 23, 2008|title=Obituary: Anise Boyer Burris|page=37|work=New York Amsterdam News| id={{ProQuest|<!-- Add ProQuest data here --> }}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Freeland|first=David|date=2009|title=Automats, Taxi Dances, and Vaudeville: Excavating Manhattan's Lost Places of Leisure|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWg10z3xoIEC&dq=anise+boyer&pg=PR12|publisher=NYU Press|page=xii|isbn=9780814727898}}</ref> * Louise Brooks<ref name=Cantu49 /> * Virginia Bruce * June Clyde * Joan Crawford<ref name=Cantu18>Cantu, Maya. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4y_eCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 American Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from Irene to Gypsy]'', p. 18 (Palgrave Macmillan 2015).</ref> * Marion Davies * Yvonne De Carlo * Myrna Dell * Marlene Dietrich * Alice Faye * Paulette Goddard<ref name=Cantu49 /> * Betty Grable * Lena Horne<ref name=Cantu49 /> * Adele Jergens * Dorothy Jordan * Ruby Keeler<ref name=Cantu18 /> * Phyllis Kennedy * Dorothy Lamour * Ruta Lee * Myrna Loy * Jeanette MacDonald * Dorothy Mackaill * Jessie Matthews * Virginia Mayo * Eve Miller * Juanita Moore * Nita Naldi * Evelyn Nesbit * Sheree North * Joan Shawlee * Jean Rhys{{fact|date=February 2026}} * Barbara Stanwyck<ref name=Cantu49 /> * Tyra Vaughn * Toby Wing<ref>"Glorifying the American Girl: Adapting an Icon", Cynthia J. Miller; "The Adaptation of History: Essays on Ways of Telling the Past" edited by Laurence Raw, Defne Ersin Tutan; McFarland, 2012; page 33</ref> * Jane Wyman {{div col end}}
==See also== * Can-can * Friedrichstadt-Palast * Showgirl * Corps de ballet
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category inline}}
Category:Musical theatre Category:Dance in the United States