Marie-Madeleine Guimard was a French ballerina who dominated the Parisian stage during the reign of Louis XVI. For twenty-five years she was the star of the Paris Opera. She made herself even more famous by her love affairs, especially by her long liaison with the Prince of Soubise. According to Edmond de Goncourt, when d'Alembert was asked why dancers like La Guimard made such prodigious fortunes, when singers did not, he responded, "It is a necessary consequence of the laws of motion".

In Greek mythology, Terpsichore is one of the nine Muses and goddess of dance and chorus. She lends her name to the word "terpsichorean", which means "of or relating to dance".