What happens when a show’s creative vision includes a total overhaul of the theater’s playing space, eliminating the familiar stage-and-seating setup in favor of something more immersive? What goes down with the dancing when the physical boundaries between the audience and the cast become less defined—or even nonexistent?

In the April 1984 issue of Dance Magazine, associate editor Joan Pikula spoke with Alfonso Ribeiro, Hinton Battle, and Alan Weeks, the trio of dancers leading The Tap Dance Kid on Broadway.

A downtown scrappiness is a mainstay of Rick and Jeff Kuperman’s mindset and aesthetic, making them the ideal choreographic match for “The Outsiders,” a new Broadway musical based on the book by S.E. Hinton and film of the same name.

To the audience of a Broadway show, what’s being presented onstage is crisp, harmonious, and expertly crafted. But in most cases, the production has had a yearslong journey to that polished final product—a journey that often winds through one or more other theaters.

Broadway choreography has long been an amalgam of different social dances and forms like jazz, tap, and ballet. But today’s shows are increasingly using movement makers from genres outside the musical theater world altogether, like experimental dance (David Neumann, Annie-B Parson, Raja Feather Kelly), commercial dance (Sonya Tayeh, JaQuel Knight, Keone and Mari Madrid), modern dance (Camille A. Brown), and physical theater (Steven Hoggett).

“La Cage aux Folles” took Broadway by storm 40 years ago last August—just as the AIDS pandemic reached the public’s consciousness. Here are some of the original Cagelles’ stories.

“In this industry, people often chase something because it’s the thing to do,” says Tilly Evans-Krueger, “but I chase authenticity, so I can book the jobs that will help me grow into the artist I truly want to be.” This approach has landed Evans-Krueger roles in a slew of standout Broadway, off-Broadway, and dance productions, including Moulin Rouge!, The Lucky Ones, and the premiere of Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Illinoise at the Fisher Center at Bard. Earlier this year, she was the movement coordinator for the new off-Broadway play Jonah.

JaQuel Knight has squeezed so many genres of dance into the long-awaited revival of “The Wiz”—fresh off a pre-Broadway national tour, and opening at the Marquis Theatre in April—that he finds it easier to share the only style he didn’t include.