Dance is a Sport
As an athlete who spends countless hours practicing, building strength, working with my teammates, listening to feedback from my coach and refining my skills it is very frustrating when people say that dance is not a sport. I am a member of the Palm Desert High School Competition Dance Team. The Google search engine defines sport as: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Based on this definition and the examples elaborated on in this essay, competitive dance must be recognized as a sport. Dancers spend hours in physically demanding practices. They build muscles, push their bodies to achieve greater flexibility and they develop
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Clearly the Super Bowl with the million dollar commercials and famous musicians performing at half time is all about entertainment. Although dance team competitions are not nearly as big as the Super Bowl, they are entertaining! Any weekend between January and March will find high school auditoriums across southern California full of cheering, clapping and whistling fans who each paid $10 to watch a day full of dance team competition. Last weekend over 500 spectators attended a West Coast Elite sponsored dance team competition. The crowds cheered in unison, gave standing ovations and participated in the sense of community of a crowd of people coming together to be entertained by the competition. There were smiles and there were tears as the winning teams were recognized. These competitions aren’t televised, the author of Dance Athletes claims that “professional television programming continues to categorize “real’ sports as separate from activities”. It is easy for some to dismiss dance as an art form and not a sport. Author Jenna Garecht states it very simply in her article, Is Dance a Sport or an Art?, “Clearly dance is very unique activity because it can be classified as both a sport and an art.” Certainly attending the ballet or other dance performance is not a sport, but dance team competitions where teams are pitted against one another trying to get the highest score are something very different from attending the
There are millions of cheerleaders in America and all around the world today. They stand in front of hundreds of fans and try their best to get the crowd pumped up. They stand outside braving the cold as they are rained, sleeted, and even snowed on. It’s probably the only sport I can think of where you would have to wear hardly any warm clothing and still have to pump the crowd up. How can you not call that a sport?
Waving to my teammates as I walked out of the tennis courts, the reminiscence of a smile appeared on my face after winning a close match. A freshman teammate joined me and I heard her take a deep breath as soon as we were out of others’ earshot, muttering something nervously. “I’m sorry, what was that?” I asked a little too loudly, the excitement still buzzing. She mustered courage and made sure to speak clearly this time: “I’m being bullied, and I feel so trapped that I only see self-harming as my way out.”
By universal definition, "sport" is listed as "an activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively." Football, basketball, baseball, soccer and other primary activities have always been concretely defined as sports in society. However, one of the most physically demanding activities is constantly forgotten when it comes to the realm of sports- dance. Dance requires a tremendous amount of training and creates an aura of competition in which people compete to be the best, win, and take home the trophy- just like in traditionally accepted sports. These sports, however, do not possess an element of psychological health threats that some competitive dancers unfortunately must account for due to the emphasis placed on physical appearance.
The five-hour practices four times a week, the hours of time spent conditioning, the tears, the sweat, the blood, the pain, and the injuries experienced throughout the season, all come down to the second your team walks on the mat. Only the best of the best will have what it takes to come out on top and prove that their hard work has paid off. Does this sound like a sport? Absolutely. Now, what if it was mentioned that there is only have two minutes and thirty seconds to give it your all, does this change your opinion of this mystery sport being an authentic sport? It should not. So if all of the above examples fit into the same amount of athleticism as other sports, why is cheerleading not considered a sport? If the courts were to rule cheerleading as a sport, how would they go about it? Should all-star and school cheerleading be voted a sport? Should none of it? The answer to this is all-star cheerleading should be ruled as not only a sport, but also as a varsity sport. Competitive and collegiate cheerleading should be ruled as a sport because of the danger, the rigor and the popularity that this athletic activity demands. Cheerleading is overall called an athletic activity which is practically no different than calling it a sport. Different name. Same meaning.
The New York Times states that cheerleading is the fastest growing girls’ sport, yet more than half of Americans do not believe it is a sport. A sport is defined as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature” (dictionary.com). Cheerleading at a competitive level is physically demanding and requires team work to be the best. The misconception of cheerleaders being weak, nonathletic crowd entertainers makes people believe cheerleaders are not athletes and that cheerleading is just a hobby but cheerleaders that compete at a competitive level are in fact athletes because it meets the standards of what a sport is, which includes rules and regulations, and overcoming air resistance.
I am a competitive cheerleader and as well as all the other cheerleaders in the world, I want to prove to the world that what I do best, love with all my heart, and can’t live without is most definitely a sport. Trying to clarify this long debate on how cheerleading is a sport and how it is not is my biggest intention in this paper. Polls say that 60% of the voters think cheerleading is a sport and 35% think it is not (Varnavas), so the polls are already on my side. Cheerleading should be accepted as a sport and it is all up to the voters, depending on if the voters are into competitive cheerleading or non-competitive cheerleading.
Dancing requires a variety of skills and abilities. It requires for one to have balance, and also to be limber. Having upper body strength and leg strength is just as critical an asset in dancing as it is in playing football or any other nationally recognized sport. Just as a football player needs a good memory to remember all the different plays and routes that are needed to run, a dancer has to remember the different steps and turns with in each move. Dancers practice their moves in an effort to sharpen their skills and abilities for the same that other traditional athletes would.
Three laps around the gym, minute long planks, crunches, sit-ups, and push-ups in a matter of thirty minutes. As a dancer, experiencing and realizing the strength that needs to be present in order for an athlete to grow is vital. We go through long hours of choreography sessions, pain and strain on our bodies, and vigorous training. Many people will disagree on the status of if dance is a sport or not. Well, what makes a sport a sport?
Dancing is a tremendously difficult task. That is why all dancers must have a mind mentally
Dance is a unique sport because it combines the grit and sweat of sporting events, such as track and field, with the style and extravagance of a fashion show (D.Fowler, 2000).
Dance helps clear your mind and lets you have fun with moving your body. There are many styles, so different from each other, but they make people come together and create something words can’t explain. Different styles of dance need sharp and intense movement and some need soft, smooth, and emotional movement. Dance shows people the real you without expressing verbally. You become strong and more confident dancing as an individual and when you dance with a group everyone feels like they could accomplish everything as a team. Tap is a very unique dance and is like no other style around, Ballet is the core of dance and you really become strong internally, lyrical is the newest style of dance and has very dynamic movement that makes your mind
Dance is an art, a creative portal, a form of expression; it is a sport. Atop all of the things that dance can be, it is also something physical. It takes work, power and effort. It takes stamina, grace and an extreme amount of muscle and flexibility. What do athletes need to have, all of those characteristics. When it comes to athletes, of any kind, dance can help with honing their skills. Something that most athletes do not seem to understand is that dance is just as much a physical and athletic sport as their sport is. Dance can help in areas that regular conditioning, working out, stretching, and practicing cannot.
I had the pleasure of attending this years Spring Dance Concert. As a dancer I love being presented different types of dance, I feel as though it broadens your views as an artist. What I appreciated the most was the boundaries pushed by the dancers and choreographers at this years spring recital. The first piece “A taste of Majorette” was very upbeat piece that began with the dancers in the aisle alongside the audience. The piece was very upbeat and the dancers were wearing royal blue leotards, it was visually stimulating, the spins and kicks reminded me of the “New York City Rockettes”. This piece was a great start to the show and left the audience smiling. Another piece that I found exciting was “Alien” choreographed by Emylice Landestoy,
My whole life I have heard it said that dancers are not athletes; this statement has been proven wrong. Dancers understand their bodies more than anyone; it is the base of all training. This awareness brings forth an athleticism demonstrated by few. It is said that, “Just as one practices a religion or a profession, one practices dance: the action and engagement in the action defines and creates the art”(Deagon 2). The awareness and strength are created before the movement even begins. Balance and coordination is detrimental; one must learn to use their core to even attempt to gracefully develop their story with movement. Yet, it may be observed that this core strength is enhanced through the sport, due to the fast paced moves. Along with the abdominal and back benefits comes agility and coordination. Yes, it is true that most dancers are klutzy and seem to lack much dexterity when off the stage, but once this passionate artist steps foot into their element, you can simply say they are walking on air. Several things occur at once, bringing multitasking into play. Pirouettes, or as the public knows them, “spins”, require increased strength in the upper and lower extremities as well as the synchronization of the head spotting a definite location. Not many people can execute thi...
To many, dance is only an art. In reality, dance is much more. It 's an art, a sport, a way to express one’s self, a way to exercise, a way to get feelings out. Since the beginning of time, humans have used different types of dance to express themselves. There are many advantages to dancing, however there are also some disadvantages. Dance is one of the most physically and cognitively demanding sports.