Gymnastics has always held a special place in my heart, particularly the floor exercises. Ever since childhood, the Olympics haven’t been complete without witnessing the grace and power of gymnasts. Growing up, watching floor routines felt like the closest thing to seeing dance on mainstream television. While I personally never mastered gymnastics beyond some wobbly attempts on a balance beam in elementary school, the artistry of the floor exercise captivated me.
However, in recent years, it feels as though the sport of gymnastics is drifting further and further away from its dance roots.
Like many disciplines, including dance itself, gymnastics has seen an incredible surge in technical difficulty. The athleticism and sheer power displayed in modern gymnastics are undeniably breathtaking. Simone Biles, for instance, seems to defy the limits of human capability. The height she achieves, the number of rotations she completes in the air, and her flawless landings are simply astounding.
Yet, as gymnasts push the boundaries of acrobatic feats, the dance elements in their routines seem to become increasingly superficial.
This shift is largely attributed to a controversial overhaul of the gymnastics scoring system in 2006. The changes prioritized complex acrobatic skills while diminishing the importance of artistry. Although the sport is still officially termed “artistic gymnastics,” the emphasis on elegance, grace, and dance quality has significantly waned.
Laurie Hernandez, with her vibrant and musical style, stands out among American gymnasts as a notably better dancer. She infuses her movements with a sassiness and musicality that goes beyond simply executing required steps. Unlike some who seem to just tick boxes for points, Hernandez genuinely appears to groove to the music. Even so, there’s a sense that the dance component could be elevated further. A touch more refinement in her footwork and a smoother flow in her movements could enhance her artistry even more.
The underwhelming dance quality in many gymnastics routines isn’t jarring because of overly high expectations from a dance background. The issue is the evident lack of attention given to dance, even as it remains a required element. This perfunctory inclusion feels almost disrespectful to the art of dance. Instead of seamlessly integrating dance and tumbling into cohesive choreography, dance sections often appear to be treated as mere pauses, opportunities for gymnasts to catch their breath. Consequently, many gymnasts simply execute a series of somewhat awkward poses, seemingly disconnected from the music and lacking genuine artistic expression.
This isn’t a criticism of the athletes themselves. The scoring system is structured to reward quantifiable elements – the precise angle of a split, the full completion of a turn. This leaves minimal room for nuanced movement and genuine artistry. While deductions can technically be applied for lacking musicality, interpretation, or expression, judges rarely penalize such subjective aspects. The focus remains on the more easily measurable markers of technical skill. As Valorie Kondos-Field, a gymnastics coach with a ballet background, pointed out in Slate in 2012, “Sometimes you want to put in a jump on the floor that isn’t a 180 split, that sort of between a step and a leap—but if you do that, you’re going to get deducted because you didn’t hit 180.”
Adding to the problematic nature of this situation is, as Roslyn Sulcas noted in a New York Times blog during the London Olympics, the gender disparity. Only female gymnasts are expected to incorporate dance into their routines. Men are allowed to approach gymnastics as purely athletic endeavors, while women are adorned in sparkly leotards and makeup and expected to “perform” with a pretty, feminine demeanor – that is, until the tumbling sequences commence, the part considered truly serious.
To the International Federation of Gymnastics, a plea: If dance is to remain a part of gymnastics, it needs to be genuinely integrated into the sport. Let’s see men express their dynamism through movement too. Provide gymnasts with rigorous ballet training, and judge the dance sections with the same discerning eye applied to technical skills. Alternatively, consider removing dance from gymnastics altogether. Stop insisting on its inclusion as a superficial sideshow in floor routines. These athletes are already performing feats of incredible athleticism; is it necessary to tack on a brief, often uninspired, hip shake in the corner? Allow them to truly rest, recover their breath, and then amaze us once more with their breathtaking tumbling prowess.
