Will AI replace choreographers?

Not on current evidence. Less than 30 minutes of a typical shift goes to tasks that AI or robots are doing today. The other 7h 35m (95%) stays with people. Separately, BLS expects about 3.1% more of these jobs by 2035 (all jobs: +3.5%).

AI shows up regularly in 1 of 18 tasks, about 25m of a typical shift. The biggest ones:

• Develop ideas for creating dances, keeping notes and sketches to record influences. (25m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)

Not in workplaces like this one, based on a 2026 review of robot deployments. For 1 physical task, no robot has shown it can do the work yet.

7h 35m of a typical shift, or 95%, goes to tasks with no AI or robot evidence yet. No AI usage or robot deployment has shown up for these so far. The biggest:

• Direct rehearsals to instruct dancers in dance steps and in techniques to achieve desired effects. (2h a shift)
• Teach students, dancers, and other performers about rhythm and interpretive movement. (57m a shift)
• Direct and stage dance presentations for various forms of entertainment. (44m a shift)
• Design dances for individual dancers, dance companies, musical theatre, opera, fashion shows, film, television productions, and special events, and for dancers ranging from beginners to professionals. (44m a shift)
• Experiment with different types of dancers, steps, dances, and placements, testing ideas informally to get feedback from dancers. (32m a shift)

Much of it comes down to where and how the work happens. In-person, hands-on and high-stakes work is where AI and robots have made the least headway so far. In the official O*NET survey of people in this job:

• 100% work at arm's length or closer to other people
• 90% spend more than half the day on their feet
• 86% carry high or very high responsibility for other workers' safety

On Indeed, job postings in the Arts & Entertainment sector are at 87% of their February 2020 level (all U.S. postings: 104%), up 12.4% from a year earlier, as of Oct 9, 2026. BLS separately expects about 600 openings a year in this job through 2035. Across all U.S. postings, 7.3% now mention AI skills. Sector postings cover more than this one job and move for many reasons besides AI.

The median pay is about $55,310 a year ($26.59 an hour), 8% above the median for all U.S. jobs ($50,980). Most people in this job earn between $34,090 and $138,630 a year; that range covers the middle 80%. Pay figures are from BLS, May 2025, and vary a lot by state and employer. Pick a state to compare:

BLS projects growth of 3.1% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3.5% growth for all jobs. That's about 4,900 jobs in 2035. It expects about 600 openings a year, mostly from people retiring or changing careers. These projections don't single out AI as a cause.

About 2,860 people in the U.S., roughly 0.00% of all workers (BLS, May 2025). That makes it the 762nd largest of the 796 jobs on this site. BLS expects about 4,900 in 2035.

The most common requirement is a high school diploma: about 33% of people in the job said so in the official O*NET survey. O*NET rates the job at level 3 of 5 for preparation, which usually means: vocational school or associate's degree. Requirements vary by state and employer, especially for licensed work.

These come from the job's official skill ratings and from the tasks that AI and robots touch least today. Building them keeps you strong in the parts of the work that still need a person:

• Skills that matter more here than in most jobs: Instructing, Coordination, Learning Strategies, Monitoring
• Get strong at the parts of the job that stay with people (listed above), which take 7h 35m of a typical shift
• Tools employers list: Facebook, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word
• Learn to use AI well on the tasks where it already shows up in this job (listed above)

These use similar skills. Matches come from 109 official ratings of skills, knowledge and work activities, and each needs the same or less preparation unless the official list relates the jobs directly:

• Music Directors and Composers (26m touched, $74k median pay)
• Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary (2h 31m touched, $79k median pay)
• Talent Directors (28m touched, $90k median pay)
• Actors (38m touched, $60k median pay)

Each task carries its own evidence label. For this job: 1 observed in real AI use, 17 with no AI or robot evidence found. The minutes per task are estimates, not measured hours, and "no evidence" doesn't prove a task is safe.