Did you know that a professional Ballet dancer is more physically fit than an Olympic
athlete? (Scienedaily) If Albert Einstein referred to dancers as “the athletes of God”, then why
does our society fail to respect dance as a sport? Dancing as a career requires an incredible
amount of dedication and mental resolve, just like Olympic sports. Even before reaching
professionalism a ballet student will train up to eight hours a day! (Womack) Because there
are very few jobs available in the field, pre-professional dancers must also be very competitive
in order to succeed. Ballet should be recognized as a sport due to the fitness, dedication, and
competition involved.
An important part of every sport is the physical toll it takes on it’s participants and the
incredible physical condition required of them. Inarguably, Olympic sports require first-rate
physical condition of their participants. Similarly, the physical demands of Ballet necessitate top-
notch fitness levels. Evidence of this physical prowess may be found in a study conducted by
the University of Hertfordshire. This study confirmed that professional Ballet dancers are more
physically fit than Olympic athletes! If the world held any doubts as to the physical hardships of
Ballet they were extinguished by the results of this study.(Sciencedaily) Another testimony to
Ballet’s difficulty is given by Steve McClendon, an NFL player who takes Ballet for cross-
training, and admitted that “Ballet was the hardest thing he did”. (Katzowitz 1) Certainly if a
professional football player respects ballet in this way, football fans should as well! Clearly the
physical demands of Ballet should qualify it as a sport.
Anothe...
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...d be enough to gain the respect of the public. Another
justification is the dedication required for Ballet. It is an inarguable fact that all sports require
dedication. The many sacrifices made by Ballet dancers and the devotion of an immense amount
of their time are things that they all have in common. This dedication should be recognized
when questioning whether or not ballet is a sport. Competiveness is one more characteristic of
Ballet. The competition seen in other sports is also evident in Ballet. Since competition is such
an important factor of sports, it’s presence in Ballet is not to be ignored. These reasons all lead
us to one conclusion: Ballet is a sport. The fact that Ballet is also an art does not compromise this
conclusion in any way. Therefore, I implore you to give Ballet your full respect as the sport that
it is.
The word and the times have changed and growing steadily make everything has evolved to adapt to the modern era. Thus, it includes a ballet dancer as well not only practiced the choreography. But more needs to be updated to the ballet remains an interesting and decays. From modern dance, Jazz, R & B or
The winning team in a dance competition is determined by a panel of judges. Some may argue that because the teams are not facing off head to head, dance is not qualified as a sport. However, a deeper look into the sport of gymnastics validates otherwise. There is no doubt gymnastics is an extremely difficult sport, which is why it is presented along with many other sports in the Olympics. The scores of the competitors are solely determined on the scores that the panel of judges decides to give them. There is a strict set of guidelines, which the judges follow in order to determine their scores. These same rules apply at dance competitions, so why would one qualify and not the other? Furthermore, multiple tests have been conducted at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, ranking dancers from Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance among professional athletes in terms of overall athleticism (Wallace 1). This educated viewers and broke the misconceived stereotype that dancers are not
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.
Young girls and women symbolize femininity with being a ballerina. Kelso comments that in the shadows of the spotlight lurks an abusive world of eating disorders, verbal harassment, fierce competition, injuries, fatigued, and malnourished dancers (Kelso, 2003). In today’s world of ballet, dancers suffer from always being in pain, worrying their body image is not the right look they need to have to get lead roles resulting in the development of eating disorders, and male ballet dancers are stereotyped as being homosexual when most of the male dancers are in fact heterosexual.
Li’s passion for ballet shows on and off stage through his arabesques, flexibility, fouettés, grande jeté and pirouettes that were nothing less than perfection. I understood that becoming a dancer requires commitment, passion and having a great memory as there’s many moves, routines and ballet terms that you need to learn. When I was performing on stage, I felt free and that I could own the stage as it felt like it was my second home. I also felt complete within myself just as Li felt. To perform on stage, you need to be light and graceful along with connecting to the music using precise steps, poses and formal gestures. The film used dance, music, scenery, and costumes to portray a story characterised by Li’s dance. Classical ballet dancers require the utmost grace and I’ve found that you also need a tremendous level of concentration and memory. This portrays when his choreographer Ben Stevenson asked Li Cunxin to replace the main male role due to an injury on the day of the performance to memorise new dances and perform them in front of an enormous crowd. Many of my performances have been in a group where we all need to be in sync and work together. This film highlighted that in order to become a professional ballet dancer, you have to prepare to work extremely hard no matter how gruelling the schedule is in order to
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.
Ballet is a beautiful and romantic type of performance art. It originated in the Italian court systems in the 15th century (Jonas). Since its origination, ballet has undergone many changes and gained worldwide recognition. Filled with elaborate costumes, cheering audiences, lights, weightless movements and beauty; ballet is admired by many. On the magical stage ballerinas can become whoever they wan to be, and perform in a world of fantasy. For these reasons, children, especially little girls, all over the world dream of becoming ballerinas when they grow up. However, becoming a professional ballerina is an extremely difficult accomplishment, in which few will achieve (Kelso 1). The world of ballet may seem to be filled with glitz and glamor but, behind the curtain there is an entirely different story. There are extreme demands and pressures put on these young dancers to be very thin and nearly perfect. Some of which include body and weight demands, competition, and social pressures. These constant pressures can lead to a negative body-image and even debilitating eating disorders (Price and Pettijohn).
Ballet has been an art form since the late fifteenth century, but society did not truly see the impact of ballet until the nineteenth century. Modern day thinkers possess the idea that ballet began with tutus and pointe shoes, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that this opinion was observed. Ballet has come a long way. It has survived the turmoil of many wars and has changed itself by accepting new ideas and impressing the audience with its unique stylistic views.
Miami Dade College’s very own dance majors, who were challenged by the artistry of guest choreographers as well as themselves, performed The Art of Dance. Watching this performance truthfully made me question if the dancers in this program were being trained properly to be professional dancers
Russian ballet took a big hit with the defections of many stunning dancers. Now though, Russian Ballet has boomed with bigger, better dancers popping up all over Russia. All across the world little girls dream of being a ballerina dancing with their prince across a bright stage, their costumes glittering with jewels. The reality is it takes years of blood, sweat, tears, and hard work to even get a shot of being on that stage. Even if you get there, the fight to get to the top level is hard, and to stay there is even harder. Dancers need to stand up for their rights
I don not remember everything I am taught, but when it comes to the ballet and the classics like Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Notre Dame de Paris, I enjoy watching every minute of the performance. Truly To enjoy the ballet or even an opera, there has to be an enjoyment of classical music. The two go hand in hand. I can close my eyes, listen to the music, and see myself dancing. It's a feeling of floating above and watching the performance as if I am the best dancer. To understand and appreciate the ballet, there has to be some sense of the history behind it all. To have a perfect ballet there needs to be; a good choreographer, a story line, the perfect music that flows with the story line and last of all the dancer who can interpret the theme. There is so much more than can be learned by reading the history of the ballet and the dancers who make it all come alive, even in a dream. Ballet can give a sense of peace, even if it's for only a few hours.
Ballet first originated in Italy in the 1400’s, its purpose was to impress the nobility of other countries. The ballerinas would wear the fashion of the times, with big dresses, wigs, and shoes that were not good for dancing in. Ballet was brought to France when Catherine de Medicis married King Henri II. She brought the culture of ballet with her to Paris. Eventually Paris became the capitol of the ballet world. Up until 1681 all of the female ballet roles were played by men. Many people fell in love with ballet. George Balanchine brought ballet to America.
“I have been a dancer since I was four, a coach at the age of sixteen, a studio owner for a short time in my twenties and now I run the show.” Stated Macy when asked about her experience in dance. For eight years Macy has set up and managed dance competitions all over the United States. Although Macy’s job might sound like a dream come true to a person who has danced their whole life, the job does not come without complications. According to Macy, in the business of dance competitions many are unaware of what takes place behind the scenes, including long hours of office work, traveling to and running each show, and maintaining relationships and productivity with
Many people think Dance is an art because ballet is an art and ballet is a type of Dance. So people are focusing on this one thing and are not considering the other things and perspective and types of Dance they are just focusing on that one. I do agree that ballet is an art but that does not mean Dance is too. Ballet is an art because people will sit through 2-3 hour shows that tell a story like the Nutcracker, Coppelia, Swan Lake and Cinderella and many more. Just because one thing is not a sport does not mean the rest isn’t
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