Persuasive Essay: Dance Should Be Considered A Sport

Cheerleading started as a male endeavor in 1898, when a University of Minnesota football fan led the crowd in verse in support of their team. It was not until World War II, when men shipped out to war, that women took over. Then cheerleaders came to represent the American ideal of femininity: wholesome apple pie with washboard stomachs, perfect teeth, and flawless complexions. Stereotypes cast them as blond, petite, and impossibly perky. “From its humble beginning cheerleading has blossomed into a competitive athletic activity with a serious image problem” (Forman 52). But today’s post-feminist youth have put a new, diverse face on cheerleading. Cheerleading in America is no longer a matter of waving pom-poms, a cute smile and being overly

There are many different “worlds” on this planet we live on called Earth. Everyone alive lives in some kind of little “world” of their own. There is the celebrity world, the “Disney” World, “Wally-world”, lots of different sports worlds, scholastic worlds, and so many others. There is a particular world that some live in, and that is the World of Dance. When you are a part of that world, you literally live and breathe it. Every aspect of the dance culture is wrapped up in that world. To those looking in from the outside it is beautiful, filled with lights, lovely costumes, mesmerizing music, and graceful movements.

For high school dance teams, the sport is quite competitive just like any other school sport. Dancers practice six days a week for at least two and a half hours each day, and these practices are far from easy. When it comes time to compete, we do not get any do-overs. So, if someone gets injured, and it is not an extreme case, the dance continues. Dancers are also built and trained to do things their bodies were not naturally born to do, this means dancers have to participate in strength training and conditioning. Having strong and

They really just eat, sleep, study, and dance. They have an average of 7 hours of dance a day and, if they are in college, only get about 5-6 hours of sleep depending on their minors and majors. Their schedule is this way for a reason. Dancers that professionally do this or have it as a major, need to keep their muscles used to doing everything that they do. Try to think of it as playing music. If you learn a piece of music and then don’t play it for a week, the chances are, you probably forgot it. That’s why it is important to have dance classes every day. Dancers also have their schedule this way because of their performances. Most dancers usually have about 1 performance a week, which means that every day they need to buckle down and work. All dancers, for a performance, need to learn their dances, get fitted for their costumes, rehearse the dances, and have stage rehearsals at the place that they will be performing at. This happens usually all in one week. This doesn’t even include their other college classes that they may take. Now as I had said in the beginning when people see dancers dance, it looks effortless to them. This is only because dancers WANT to make it look effortless. That is their job. The dancers want to make it look graceful and beautiful, and that doesn 't come with making weird faces or having it look like they are working really hard. From this, some people

Along with other sports, dance involves physical exertion and requires skill. It can be inferred that when athletes undergo physical activity, they push themselves to their limit, which results in them becoming sore, and possibly even injured in some cases. This also pertains to dancers. Dancers can pull a muscle by overstretching or by not stretching enough. They can also break any bone by doing turns, flips, jumps, and tricks. In Ronald Smith’s article, he proceeds to explain

With such an atypical style, dance can be found in various forms. Dance can be entertainment, tradition, recreation, a competitive event, or even a simple act of joy. So should dance be classified as a sport....or what? Many people believe that dance is a "cute" activity that is "fun" but shouldn't be taken seriously. Why is this? Dance has been around for generations, but, as it seems, dance is still a thing of the past, that hasn't caught up with modern trends. Although dance may be considered old-fashioned - should dance be excluded

Dance demands the same physical skills that are required in other sports. Flexibility, strength, and endurance are key characteristics that most dancers need to posses. As with other “athletes,” most dancers are not born with these abilities but must establish them through practice and repetitive training. Similar to traditional sports practices, dance rehearsals are extensive and require diligence, dedication, and patience from the dancers as they will have to repeat exercises and stretches to perfect their technique and stay on

a) Many ask, “How can dance be a sport? You can't judge on time and the scoring is subjective!” Just like figure skaters, competitive dancers are judged on many criteria: technique, posture, timing, line, hold, poise, togetherness, expression, presentation, power, and foot or leg action. Dancers have a lot on their minds while performing. They are constantly asking themselves, am I extending correctly? Is my technique right? Is my head facing the right direction?

Three laps around the gym, minute long planks, crunches, sit-ups, and pushups in a matter of thirty minutes. As a dancer, experiencing and realizing the strength that needs to be present in order for an athlete to grow is vital. We go through long hours of choreography sessions, pain and strain on our bodies, and vigorous training. Many people will disagree on the status of if dance is a sport or not. Both Mary- Elizabeth Esquibel, in her article “Why Dance Will Always Be a Sport” and the infographic entitled “Is Dance a Sport?” attack this controversial dilemma. Even though these arguments use different formats, they use rhetoric similarly.

“Dancer’s are the athletes of God,” Albert Einstein said. Dance has many structures to it; there is modern, ballet, contemporary, and tap just to name a few. Dancing should be recognized as a sport. Dancing has the same components as a sport does; dance improves memory, balance and coordination, and it provides a mental escape.

Have you ever heard a band member say that the football field belongs to the band and not to the football team? Well, while some people would argue this point, many others agree. Marching band in particular is a very controversial topic in many high schools, and is argued. Some people believe marching band is a sport and some do not. But, since I am in marching band I know it is. Marching band is physically and mentally challenging, it is very time consuming when it comes to practice, and it meets the requirements of the definition to be a sport. Therefor, marching band is a sport.

Dancing is the movement of one’s body in a rhythmic way. The art of dancing is performed by skillful dancers who can turn the movements into something expressive. Many have said that dancing is not a sport; some say it in a positive way and some in a negative way. Most dancers argue that dancing is a sport. The positive people would say dancing is not a sport because it is art; however, the negative people claim that dancing is not a sport because it does not involve physical contact like football, or the blood, sweat, and tears in the hot sun like other outside sports.

Is dance a sport? A sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment, dance is just that, but others consider it an art or even just a halftime show. Dance teams in high schools do not get funded as much as other sports and they get very little to no recognition at school or even on big sports channels. Dance meets the requirements to even be an Olympic sport. Dance should be considered a sport as much as other athletics.

Also, injuries are less common. Therefore, dance should not be considered a sport. "Dance is not a sport because there are no winners or losers, also there are no limitations or rules" (Guarino). These people are mistaken because, dance competition judges score each performance based on Technique (1-25 points), Style and Execution (1-25 points), Showmanship (1-20 points), Costume (1-10 points), Choreography (1-10 points), Degree of Difficulty (1-5 points) and Age Appropriate Performance (1-5 points) for a maximum possible 100 points. A final adjudicated score is determined by an average of all judges scores. After this all dancers are put on stage and awarded with trophies 1st-10th place depending on the 1-100 average scoring from the judges. Therefore, dancers do have a set of rules and scoring just like any other athlete. Regarding injuries, they do occur. Most dance injuries are long-term because of the physical stress constantly being put on a dancers body. There are also instant injuries that happen while dancing, most commonly occurring in the knees, ankles, back, neck or hips. "The physical ability and discipline expected of a dancer can be easily related to those of an athlete and increasingly, dance critics are describing dancers as athletes" (Ailey). Ultimately, dancers are consistently proving, even to the critics, that they obtain the skill needed to be considered an

What is dance? Dance is defined as lively movement using one’s body with or without music. Dancing means to feel someone existence to feel vitality, joy, and most importantly to feel alive. Anyone can define dancing as whatever they would like, but how is dance useful to our lives? Whether you are a ballerina from birth or if you are newly introduced to the art of dance, everyone can dance some way, shape, or form. Dance therapy provides psychological and physical benefits. It helps connect body and mind as one giving support to become rooted and balanced. In order to be centered and grounded while moving your body, a dancer must be in tuned with the center of gravity in relation to the earth. Dance therapy is also a great way for people