Basic Trope: A dance sequence takes place on a set of stairs.
- Straight: During the musical Let's Dance!, one of the numbers, "An Up and Down Kind of Love", involves the lead and love interest taking turns dancing up and down a wide staircase.
- Exaggerated: The entirety of Let's Dance! takes place on a staircase.
- Downplayed: A set of stairs figures into an entrance in Let's Dance!, but no dance takes place on it.
- Justified: It's really hard to dance down a flight of stairs without hurting yourself, and people who can do things like that are neat to watch.
- Inverted: In the musical Stairs!, only one number doesn't take place on a staircase, the downbeat Eleven O'Clock Number "Walkin' on Solid Ground".
- Subverted: The staircase is used only by the backup dancers, not the leads.
- Parodied: The entire number is danced in front of, around, behind, and in back of the staircase, but never directly on it.
- Zig Zagged: The staircase are seen several times throughout the show, but the leads only dance on it at the very end.
- Averted: No staircase is used for a dance number.
- Enforced: The theater manager wants something done with the staircase in the act.
- Lampshaded: The number is titled "How Hard It Is to Dance on Stairs!".
- Invoked: The scene is first ad-libbed by a member of the cast on opening night, then worked into the production for the remainder of the show's run.
- Exploited: The producers know audiences like staircase numbers, so they work in as many as humanly possible, to the dancers' bereavement.
- Defied: No staircases, danced-on or otherwise, appear in Let's Dance!
- Discussed: The number is dedicated to taking the act of actually dancing down a set of stairs to task.
- Conversed: The lead's "That Reminds Me of a Song" number also reminds him of a certain way of dancing which involves a big staircase.
- Implied: The stairs are assembled over the course of the musical for the big show-stopper at the very end.
- Deconstructed: Despite all precautions, during rehersal the lead dancer falls down the staircase and suffers a serious injury. After being replaced by his understudy, the musical is reworked to excise the number as a further precaution.
- Reconstructed: The staircase is replaced by a stage elevator, which the number is rewritten to accomodate.
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