When I was younger, and people inquired about the sports I participated in, my response that I danced often met with puzzled looks. It seemed my answer was somehow insufficient. The phrase “Dance is not a sport” has echoed in my ears countless times since.
Dance transcends mere hobby status; for many, it goes beyond even being a sport. Demanding acute body awareness, intense focus, seamless cooperation, and considerable strength, dance is the epitome of athletic artistry. Speaking for all dancers who pour countless hours and immense effort into this art form, it’s time to recognize dancers as the athletes they truly are, and to finally acknowledge dance as the demanding sport it is.
Cartoon depicting a dancer in a dynamic pose, highlighting the athleticism often overlooked in dance as a sport.
The perceived ease and elegance of dancers often conceal the sheer stamina required for even a brief 2-3 minute performance. Throughout this short time, dancers are constantly battling for balance while executing turns, leaps, jumps, and rolls. In these few minutes, dancers push their physical limits to the point of breathlessness, sometimes collapsing the moment they are out of the audience or judges’ view – a scenario many dancers, myself included, are familiar with.
The profound exhaustion resulting from this continuous exertion is a significant hurdle dancers overcome through rigorous practice, strength conditioning, flexibility training, and unwavering stamina. Remarkably, the average heart rate of dancers during a modern dance sequence hovers around 170 beats per minute. This is comparable to, and even slightly exceeds, the heart rates of basketball players, who average between 165 and 169 bpm, and soccer players, whose heart rates range from 150 to 184 bpm. This physiological data underscores the intense physical demand inherent in dance, firmly positioning it within the realm of athletic pursuits.
It’s interesting to note that many globally recognized sports, such as soccer, golf, volleyball, and tennis, share a common element: a ball. Ball sports frequently dominate the conventional perception of what constitutes a sport. Dance, while occasionally incorporating props, fundamentally requires no ball, yet it mirrors many core attributes essential for success in ball sports. The disparities between dancers and athletes in ball sports like soccer are dwarfed by their shared needs for agility, a sharply focused mindset, unwavering commitment, and seamless teamwork.
Similar to tennis players who rely heavily on impeccable body coordination, dancers also require exceptional coordination for peak performance. And mirroring the demands of football, dance necessitates intense concentration and focus. In fact, numerous professional football players incorporate ballet training to enhance their strength, agility, balance, focus, and overall coordination. The skills cultivated in a dance studio are transferable and beneficial across a multitude of sports, as refined muscle control is advantageous to athletes in virtually any discipline.
Dancers dedicate considerable time to strength and conditioning regimens to prevent muscle imbalances and elevate their performance capabilities. Consistent strengthening of core abdominal muscles enhances the stability and balance crucial for executing complex turns, while leg strengthening amplifies power for jumps and leaps. While robust muscles can mitigate the risk of injuries, the inherently strenuous nature of dance still leads to a high injury rate, with approximately 80% of dancers experiencing at least one performance-impacting injury annually.
Despite these undeniable physical demands and the clear athleticism exhibited by dancers, they often lack widespread recognition for their athletic prowess, particularly when compared to participants in more conventionally recognized sports.
This lack of recognition is simply inaccurate.
Consistent rehearsals and practices are essential to tackle the demanding task of refining a dance piece, a meticulous process of perfecting every detail. Recently, I spent an intensive six and a half hours straight in the dance studio learning physically challenging choreography. My teammates and I were constantly turning, leaping, running, and lunging to nearly every beat of a high-energy 150 bpm song. This experience, while incredibly rewarding, left my entire back aching for days and my legs fatigued for even longer. The floor work resulted in bruises marking my kneecaps and the tops of my feet, tangible evidence of the physical toll dance takes.
Despite dedicating significantly more hours weekly to dance than typical students spend in physical education classes, dancers in organizations like Westview Dance Troupe (WVDT) often do not receive physical education credits towards graduation. This is because dance troupes are frequently categorized as clubs rather than officially recognized sports within educational institutions.
As any dedicated dancer can affirm, dance, while passionately pursued, is undeniably more physically demanding than it appears. Despite this reality, misconceptions persist, and some may still dismiss dancers’ athleticism. However, for those who understand the dedication, discipline, and physical rigor involved, the response to “What sport do you play?” when answered with “Dance” is unequivocally adequate, because dance is definitively a sport, and a demanding one at that, requiring both immense athleticism and profound artistry.
