Sports have been around for many years and are used for entertainment. Basketball to football and karate to soccer, but what about dance? For many years, dance has been considered an art. Dance is just like any other sport, so why does it not get the “sports” label? Dance should be considered a real sport because it is just as dangerous as any other sport, dancers compete, and dance requires just as much discipline as any other sport. Dance is just as dangerous and tough on the body. Knee pain is common in the dance world. Twisting, jete (throwing/ thrown, a jump from one foot to one foot), and landing can cause patellofemoral pain (pain at the front of the knee and around the kneecap) and sprains. Lower back pain is another result of some …show more content…
These injuries can have dancers sitting out of class for long periods of time. This is all worth it in the end. Dancers compete at competitions to see who is the best. Dance competitions are when the teams show off their dance to the judges. Dancers normally rehearse their dance backstage before they go on to make sure everything runs smoothly. Sometimes, dancers will get nervous before going onstage, but once the music turns on, all their worries go away. When the dance is over, the team will go and sit in the audience and wait for all the other dances to be completed. Finally, they have awards where all dance teams will go up on the stage to see what place they got. When a team wins, one representative from the studio will go to the front of the stage and get their trophy. Once the competition is over, the team will go back home to train so they can do it all over again. Dancing requires just as much discipline as any other sport. Ballet, a theatrical work in which a choreographer has expressed their ideas in a group or solo (dancing to music with appropriate costumes, scenery and lighting), is considered the strictest form of
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.
“An athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature.” According to dictionary.com that would be the definition of a sport. Let’s look at the definition of a sport from Cambridge Dictionary, “a game, competition, or similar activity, done for enjoyment or as a job, that takes physical effort and skill and is played or done by following particular rules.” Marching band has been around for many years and still to this day is underappreciated and there’s been a lot of controversy whether or not it should be considered a sport. If we were to follow the guidelines of these definitions, then why would it not be. Marching band is an exhausting sport and takes an immense amount of physical power and will to be done. Not only that, but it takes an almost impossible amount of skill. Finally, marching band is a majorly competitive activity. Most high schools have a competition about once a week for a season that lasts about fourteen weeks (or about three months). So why is it not considered a sport?
Ballet is an athletic art form that utilizes muscle control, flexibility, and physical strength. It requires extreme discipline from the dancers and takes an extreme amount of mental concentration. This discipline causes dancers to have success throughout life and specifically in academic studies. There are many ways that dance can affect the success of a person’s life; however, there are two in specific that make dancers generally more successful. To begin, ballet causes dancers to be self-motivated workers; dancers cannot rely on others to push them to be better, but must have the drive within themselves.
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 words “competitive dance” alone say it all. The whole purpose of dancing at competitions is to compete against other dance teams in order to try and win an award. Without the competition aspect, dance should not be considered a sport. Yes, it is a physical activity that involves a lot of strength and time that needs to be dedicated to it. But without the competitive aspect, it would not be a sport. To be a sport, a team has to compete against another team for the enjoyment and entertainment of others (Sport, 1). This is the goal of any competitive dancer or dance team. For something to be a sport, it specifically needs to be in a competition setting as well as have the purpose behind it of entertaining. People do not go to a football or basketball game to sit there and watch two teams just play an equal and fair game with no activity and no winner. If all games and performances in the sports realm were like this there would be no one there to watch them because they would not be entertaining. With competitive dance, there is always two or more teams or dancers going up against each other to get the win. And a major reason why dancers compete is to entertain, because they love the satisfaction of the crowd being pleased by their performance. “I dance because it feels good. Also, applause,” said Helen Phelan, a freelance dancer
The typical idea of a dancer is that they are tall, slender, full of energy, and lucky because they dance with all of the “stars”. Much of this is true, however, what many people do not think of are the many hardships that a dancer goes through in order to achieve their high status in the dance world. It takes much hard work and determination along with good direction to become a dancer. However, nothing good comes without a price. Dancers often times have many pressures put on them which can lead to physical and emotional damages. These damages occur through the pressures from the media, parents, teammates, and the stereotype that society has placed on dancers.
As a dancer myself, I can understand why people do not think dance is a sport. For my 11 years of dancing, I have been told that dancing is not a sport. I might be against this statement , but I can somewhat agree that dancing isn’t a sport. Dancing is more considered an art than a sport according to Tengaged. However, dancers are not always competing against another team, which is one reason why dance not considered a sport. Debate.org states that people do not think that there is much physical activity required to dance. Lastly, dancers are not scored by how many points or goals they make, but by a panel of judges.
Some values that make activities a sport would be that it’s time consuming, healthy, and also beneficial to emotional and physical requirements. However one concern that has been on people’s minds was why dance is not always considered a sport. There are various reasons to uphold both sides of agreeing or disagreeing the issue, but not all opinions support the fact with reasonable thoughts. “As knowledge about the body increases, dance training improves and the competition for excellence paired with innovation is greater, dancers bodies are pushed to the limits. The physical ability and disciplines expected of a dancer can be easily related to those
Did you know that a professional Ballet dancer is more physically fit than an Olympic
Baseball, basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, tennis, lacrosse. All of these activities are easily recognized as sports. But, there’s still one physical pastime that isn’t given enough credit and is typically forgotten when it comes to sports--dance. There has been a question about whether we should consider dance as a sport. While they do have similar athletic components, many believe it is simply meant for competition & “showing off”, doesn’t require any hard work, and it would change the overall definition of a sport. This isn’t exactly the case. Dance involves physical exertion, skill, and defines as a sport/athletes (according to the definition). They compete, as do other sports. Nevertheless, dance is sport, for multiple
Although, dance requires some natural skill it also requires dedication. Natural ability and talent will only get dancers so far. Dancers must work hard and persevere. Dancers give years of their lives plus their sweat, tears and sometimes blood to have the honor and pleasure of performing on stage. Dance takes dedication, commitment and passion from the dancer. The only one who can stop you from reaching your dance goals is you! Practice, persistence and determination pay off. Dancers that dedicate themselves countless hours every day, week, and month to become more confident and have more toned dedication and skill. So clearly, there is a question in people's minds about whether dance is a sport or an art. The dance community consists of many different factions and styles. You can dance at a club for fun, as a hobby, as a serious passion, or you can dance as a career. To be able to dance well, one needs to have flexibility, strength, stamina, endurance, and a love for what they do. I can see why people think that dance is not a sport. I know we make it look easy, but as many people don’t know, it’s really quite difficult. When you really take a look and see how many things football and dance have in common, you will see that dance truly is a sport. Dancers work just as hard as any football player in the United States. To conclude my thoughts my favorite quote in the world, “If dance were any
As covered in Women’s Studies 101, competition between women is a very real and brutal mechanism to drive women apart and lower their self-esteem. We see this in various ways, including beauty standards, expectations of women, and the very oppression of womanhood. While this is a global occurrence, one can see this very vividly in the realm of competitive dance. Dance competitions have become a huge subculture, with more than 200 various competitions in the United States alone. Dancers who compete, rather than dance for recreation, not only have to commit their time, money, and effort, but their body and mind to this art.
Maling, Michel. "Ballet Dancing and Injury Prevention." EzineArticles Submission - Submit Your Best Quality Original Articles For Massive Exposure, Ezine Publishers Get 25 Free Article Reprints. Web. 07 June 2010. http://ezinearticles.com/?Ballet-Dancing-and-Injury-Prevention&id=3861053
Preparing for competition is easier said than done, you need a passion to complete the task. Competition is extremely stressful, but amazing at the same time. It?s a process of mixed emotions, not knowing if it?s importance will have a meaning in the end. Having practice six times a week allows us to work on our jumps, cheers, dances, tumbling, and the most difficult, stunting. Just the counts and lifting people in the air is traumatic enough, but repeating it over and over again it gets strenuous. Dancing is relaxing when you have counts to them, but when you have to learn the dance to the music people get confused and don?t know when to leave to the next formation. Team members start getting fed up with each other at the closing stages of practice, it?s just a natural human reaction after practicing with the same fifteen to twenty girls for three hours.
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.