We were watching a local performance of the musical "Cats" the other night, and it struck me that the dance moves were effectively identical to those of the production that used to run in London.

It got me thinking... how do they know what steps to make, apart from watching old videos? Surely the dance steps are somehow notated in print for future use?

Musicians have a very rigid notation for marking notes in time. Do dancers have a system for notating in writing the steps in choreography?

Is there a universal understanding, such that an experienced dancer who has never seen Cats could read something and be able to perform all of the dances as originally intended?

The only system I've ever really heard of is Labanotation , which was invented back in the 1920s, I believe. The Oxford Companion to Music also mentions the Eshkol/Wachmann system and the Benesh system.

If a new dance, ballet, Modern Dance etc, has been created, you have to call in a Notator to come to rehearsals and they note down every step, hand, head etc movement, using a notation system,as the dancers are taught . This is then published and kept in a Notation library. When you are producing it you have to send for the Notation.
I think that is why your two productions of Cats were so alike, Terry.

There is an article in Wikipedia on 'Dance Notation' with a cool illustration and various links to other sources.

Happy Dance Trivia!

For ballroom, we have names of steps and how they are taken (Left foot down line of dance, or right foot diagonally to centre (of floor). These are abbreviated to LF LOD, and RF DTC)

Wouldn't it be amazing watching a Notator at work.