Many people play sports in their spare time. Some examples include football, basketball, and golf. But the surprisingly difficult sport of dance is commonly overlooked. Shanna LaFleur once said, “It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer.” Dance expresses strong feelings and emotions through graceful or sharp, powerful movement, revealing to the audience every bit of passion behind it.
Countless forms of dance exist in the world. Jazz, ballet, and tap are the most common. When a person thinks of dance, they think of pink tights and tutus. Dance consists of so much more than that. Jazz, one of the most popular forms of dancing, usually consists of a more upbeat and fast tempo movement. The different types of jazz include:
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Another dance form, known as contemporary, steals the hearts of most dancers and audience members. Most contemporary dances tell a story or convey a message. This style became known for combining different types of dance to form chorography that people could emotionally connect to. Lyrical, very similar to contemporary, embodies a more ballet look and feel. The slower motions and fluidity creates longer lines and to expresses stronger emotions. The movement, strongly based on the lyrics of the song, expresses a similar if not the same idea.
Many people exclude dance in their mind when thinking about sports. The physical demands placed on the bodies of dancers prove to make them just as vulnerable as football players to injury. Just like any other physical activity, dance comes with a risk of injury. Injuries devastate many dancers’ careers. Luckily, reducing or avoiding them is a possibility. The practice of movements repeatedly that require extreme flexibility, strength, and endurance make them more likely to develop overuse injuries. Beginner dancers must take their time building their strength and flexibility slowly and carefully. Taking the time to properly warm up the major muscles of the body prevents dance injuries the most. John Wooden once said, “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." Dancing requires a great amount of muscle and flexibility and during the
Dance began as a form of communication and storytelling. Thousands of years ago dancing served as a way for people to tell a story and helped distract themselves of the hardships they faced. Furthermore, dance was a form of storytelling through communication, which then turned into using storytelling through dance as entertainment. According to the History World, many dancers during the BC time danced in front of only a few people to get a story across. That later turned into hundreds of thousands of people as dance was used by many. Today, dance is also a form of entertainment and storytelling, but in a modern sense. However, today perfection and technique are stressed more than they were in the past. Yet, the passion for dance has not changed. Many dancers who share this passion also have many of the same qualities. Among a discourse community of trained dancers, one expects to find individuals who are healthy and active athletes, expect perfection from themselves through competition, and religiously attend dance performances.
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.
I have been dancing since the age of two. When asked about my career aspirations, there is no hesitation before saying “I want to be a dancer.” Being a dancer means putting all other distractions aside, and focusing on my craft. Currently, I dedicate over forty hours a week to dance, which is a schedule that requires sacrifice. When I am dancing, the rest of the world fades away, slipping out of my mind with relaxed importance. For that moment in time, I am completely free, wholly focused on my goals, letting me know dance is what I’m meant to do. With this realization comes a responsibility to myself and the work I have put into improving my craft thus far, and I know I must seek out the best opportunities for growth and continued learning.
This sport is one very similar to many, but also very different. It holds true similarity through its athleticism, but it differentiates itself with many other sports through its artistic form. A dance can tell a story, give emotion, and hold a power all at once. There are many athletic qualities that make dance a sport. Two qualities regarding this are that they undergo many hours of strength training and conditioning, and the athletes show prominent and positive sportsmanship.
Many people consider activities such as, football, baseball, volleyball, and track to be a sport. The qualities that tend to make these activities considered sports are, running, tackling, hitting a ball, participating in relays, and so much more. Not mentioned in this list of sports is dance. People tend to believe that dance is nothing more than moving your body to some music, it is also very mentally engaging as well as being a physically demanding activity. The question that many might ask: Why is dance not classified as a sport? Dancers that compete in competitive situations do not get off as easily as people may think. These dancers require countless hours of exercising, training, and stretching, just as much, if not more, than other sports. To perfect the art of dancing comes with years of training and dedication. With this explanation of the art of dancing, it can be concluded that dance is in fact a sport.
Dance is a unique sport because it combines the grit and sweat of sporting events, such as track and field, with the style and extravagance of a fashion show (D.Fowler, 2000).
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
c) Balance is a vital part of dance. Dancers must have strong core muscles. Men need strong shoulders for lifts, since they must not only support their own body weight but also their partner's. “Dancers are some of the toughest athletes in the world,” claims Dr. McNitt-Gray.
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.
Some may argue that dance is an art and not a sport. Yet, it has the same characteristics as a sport does.
The endless debate between the dance world and the sports world is trying to decide where dance fits in. Dance does require athletic ability for the technique needed. However, dance does not fit completely into what is typically considered a sport. Some people say it cannot be called a sport and that it is an art instead.
Have you ever heard dance talked about on the big sports channels announcing that a team won the regionals competition, or that they are advancing to Nationals? No, because many do not think about the competitive aspect of dance, they only think about the stereotypical ballerinas. Usually the only accounts of dance that people witness is at halftime during a game. Dance does not have a weekly event scheduled for it like soccer, basketball, or other high school or college sports teams, which is another reason why many don't see it as a sport. The only events that dance has is big competitions that usually happen on the weekends. In dance, you can compete against large groups, duets, or even soloist. They also do not think about the time and hard work that is put into the sport. Dance requires strength, endurance, and coordination. It takes a lot of practice to be a strong dancer, just as it would in any other
Dance is one of the most beautiful, expressive forms of art known to mankind. It expresses joy, love, sorrow, anger, and the list truly goes on for all the possible emotions that it can convey. Dance not only can express how one feels, but it can tell a story or even be used to praise a higher power. Dance has intricately played an important role to every culture over the course of time. Two forms of dance that have not only stood against the test of time but have influenced the development of other various styles of dance is none other than Classical Ballet and Modern Dance.
Ever wondered what it would be like to leap through life, twirl right through, as if the world has completely stopped around you? To be able to pause everything in a silence that allows you to hear your own heartbeat? The silence on stage as you perform is a sense of peace within your inner body that is being channeled through a movement of effortless motion. In European history, dance was considered to be a way of celebration for many cultures. Although it was said that dance did require physical agility, dancers were never considered athletes because the movement was not taken seriously. Dance did not become popular in a more skillful way until later on. The debate of dance as a sport is very
These dances eventually evolved to include praise songs and myths that were enacted by trained dancers and actors. By the end of the 5th century BC, these dance dramas were part of entertainment and provided social and political commentary on the times. Amongst the Romans, dance waxed and waned in acceptance by the powers that ruled. Until 200 BC, dance brought life to Roman processions, festivals and celebrations. However, in 150 BC all of the dancing schools were closed as Roman nobility considered dance as suspicious and even dangerous activity of the masses. Dancing has come a long way since ancient times. But there are still some similarities. When people thought up these dances they were trying to express themselves, their emotions, their problems and beliefs. Today we do the same thing. We make up dances according to our attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and feelings. The future will also contain dances that will reflect that society. There are many different kinds of dances. There is ballet, line dancing, slow dancing, the list goes on and on. Some of these dances are slow. Some of them are fast. They all use different type of instruments. Each dance representing a time, an event, an expression or feeling. Each dance expressing something different. Dances will never die. They are too interconnected in the