Dance is a highly appreciated art form and sport that is practiced by hundreds of cultures, religions, and teams worldwide. Many people falsely believe that dance is just an art form and do not consider it a sport, but on the contrary, dance is very much an art form and very much a sport. Dancers must be extremely athletic, able to practice and train hard for hours on end, and train in an extremely competitive environment, just like the athletes on various sports teams. In order to be successful, an athlete must be in peak physical form to thrive in their own sport. Dancers spend hours on end performing single movements in order to perfect them, for they know, a single mistake can cause an entire to dance to derail in an instant.

They spend hours on end conditioning and strengthening their muscles to gain flexibility, power, and muscle strength. Dancers must have an incredibly strong core to handle and control the amount of movement that their body is performing. The difficult and strenuous workouts that dancers go through compare to those of any football, basketball, or soccer player. Dancers must not only be physically toned, but they must have high levels of stamina and endurance in order to survive their incredibly long rehearsals. Columbia, md about a year ago, i forced a friend to come watch me and my team perform at a local dance competition. This friend, mark, is brawny, close minded, and dedicated to the game of football essentially, he is not normally seen at one of these venues, and was hesitant when i first asked if he would come.

Though his response was rude and ignorant, it made me want him to come see the competition even more. After several futile minutes of arguing, mark was finally convinced with the promise of seeing girls in tight, revealing leotards. I picked him up the morning of the competition and drove him and a couple of fellow dancers down to the convention center where the show would take place.

I showed mark to his seat and went backstage with my teammates to stretch and warm up before we went on stage. After all the teams performed and the awards were distributed, i met up with mark. Rather than commenting on some cute girl he had seen in the show, he described to me how he was amazed at the amount of talent, technique, and strength that he had seen from the dancers on stage. He explained to me that after seeing the numerous dances, he recognized that each dancer had a purpose in the routine?just like each football player had a position on the field. When someone does not fulfill his or her movement, it is just like a pass being dropped.

No matter how hard any of the teammates try to cover it up, the audience still notices and the team loses potential points. The plays and routines are choreographed, each team member wears a required and matching uniform, and both require hours of practice. Surprised by mark’s response, i then knew that dance had now gained his respect as a sport. Even though he knew how much time and effort i spent practicing and rehearsing, it wasn’t until he saw this competition that he was interested in how i trained.

Though mark’s observation was flattering, dance can be compared to much more than just a game of football. Proudly calling ourselves athletes, we dancers take great offense when considered anything less. To me, a sport is defined as a physical activity involving skill, and often large amounts of practice and training, in which an individual or team competes against others.