Definition of Dancing – is it a Sport or an Art? A Reflectioin

Definition of Dancing – is it a Sport or an Art?

These
Technically, to be a sport, the activity must be active and the player or dancer in this case, must have physical effort and skill.

If you have ever done dance then you will understand that dance is active and the dancer must have physical effort in order to maintain the beautiful art. The dancer has much training to be as flexible, well prepared, and coordinated as a dancer should be. Without skill, this SPORT would not be a sport, so technically, dance is a sport.

The conflict with this is that many people that don't accept dance as a sport do not dance and have no idea how much work goes into the training, and effort to make a dancer shine! This is especially when you consider the competition aspect. If you compete it’s even MORE work.

Conclusion:

Is dance a sport? yes!
What do you do if you don't think dance is a sport? go take a class and then you'll understand why it is.

Antithesis
Dancing is not a sport it is an art. Scottish and Irish when you compete in competitions is a sport. But performing ballet is not a sport because it is a production to please, not in basketball where playing in a game is to compete. Having said this Ballroom Dancing is like performing ballet, it meets the same criteria. Hence it is an art too.
The dictionary definition of sport is:
sport
1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2. a particular form of this, especially in the out of doors.
Dance does not take place outdoors on a regular basis and except for competitive dancing, does not require a competitive edge.

Synthesis
"Well I am a dancer and I say dance is a sport 100% besides the fact that GATORADE (www.gatorade.com/ ) recognizes dance as a sport, dance requires tons of hard work endurance a physical performance. You can't be weak and do flying Arabians...not at all. Dance is an art and a sport. Dance is a physical and mental game. Your body is the player. The leading spot is the goal. Everyone you compete against is the opposing team. In this world is battle to the end. "

Antithesis
Dance is an activity. Any sport where the outcome is decided by a judge is NOT a sport. Playing basketball, soccer, and lacrosse is different. Those are sports that require actual skill not spinning around looking strange.

Thesis
“I'm a hip hop dancer and yesterday my dad asked me if I was gonna do a real sport again. I told him dance is considered a sport and he tried to fight with me about it saying it doesn't take hard work or any effort. I told my dad to go take a dance class and then tell me its not hard!
Dance is DEFIANTLY a sport; it takes a lot of effort and tons of work! I would fight about dance being hard and being a sport to anyone who said defiantly”

Antithesis
Many dancers have the following formula: you need a lot of physical strengths and you have to look good because it is an art, it is not only a sport but an art.

Antitheses:
Some people consider dancing to be a sport as it can be done competitively. However other people do not believe it is a sport as the scoring is done by subjective judging rather than scoring points as in more conventional sports. Others say it is a form of acting, you are telling a story through your body instead of through words.

Thesis
Dancing such as ballet is indeed a sport, figure skaters would say ice skating is nothing like ballet. It takes balance and leg strength. There are jumps where many skaters break bones, fall,...

Some Opinions we hear
Dance is an activity. Any sport where the outcome is decided by a judge is NOT a sport. Some people play basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. Those are sports that require actual skill not spinning around looking strange……
Dance is most definitely a sport. Many people are mad on dancing, dance 30 hours a week, ‘and it definitely is a sport’. If you said dancing wasn't a sport, it would be just like saying athletics isn't sport.

But, hence we can also agree with other people. Dancing is an art. Dancing can be more drama linked, and you have to be able to give facial expressions an act if you want to dance in a ballet, or something.
Anyway, dance is definitely a sport and an art, because you are exercising as much as an athlete, or a gymnast, if not more. So why consider them to be a sport if you do not consider dancing to be one.?? hmm??
You see: it is not that easy.

Dance is definitely a sport and an art! Because once again gymnastics is a sport and more than 50% of gymnastics is dance so why can’t dance be considered and art and a sport? It requires physical exertion. It means dance requires more exertion than NASCAR (The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) or rifle shooting sport things and they are considered sports! So why can’t dance be?

(Exertion = blood, sweat, and tears Adversity, difficulty; suffering, affliction; strenuous, arduous labor. The now common expression is a truncated version of that used by Winston Churchill in addressing the House of Commons shortly after his election as Prime Minister.

“I say to the House, as I said to the Ministers who have joined this Government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”.

Conclusion: there is none. If Ice Skating wouldn’t be on ice, it wouldn’t be an Olympic Discipline. Like in Ballroom the judging system is not objective and Ice Skating is not measured in Time, Distance and Height. There is nothing wrong with it, it is just not Olympic (but it is of course).

A different opinion we found in the The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2008/may/23/dancesport

Is ballroom dancing a sport?

If you're ever in doubt as to whether dance qualifies as a sport, take a look at the competitors in the Crystal Palace Cup

Being judged on everything, down to the smiles on their faces ...

Instinct says that dancing is not a sport - it's dancing, innit? Swanning around to music and looking lovely, or gyrating and looking sexy, if you're doing the Latin.

Actually, the question had never crossed my mind until this week, when I attended the finals of the Crystal Palace Cup. In ballroom, the Crystal Palace Cup is to Blackpool what Eastbourne is to Wimbledon in tennis - an international competition that takes place just before and in the shadow of the real biggie.

One of the first things you notice at the Cup is that although there are ballroom and Latin categories, it's not called ballroom and Latin dancing - it's called "dancesport". Over the years a consortium of dance organizations has fought to get dance competitions officially classified as a sport. And with some degree of success: dancesport is now recognized by the International Olympic Committee, although it's still some way from the elusive goal of becoming an official medal sport.

Can it really qualify as sport? Well, it's certainly athletic. Those couples have been in serious physical training - they need to be, not just for the dancing, which tends to happen in brief sprints, but simply to survive the marathon length of the competitions. And there's a lot of technique involved, with umpteen rules about toes and heels and lifts and suchlike. That's certainly sporty - you need rules to have rankings. And rankings are the lifeblood of these gladiatorial arenas that trade in knockouts and sudden death.

And ballroom dancing is competitive. My God, it's competitive. Take a look at those pile-ups that keep happening in the corners of the dancefloor, see how determinedly everyone maintains their smile - and now tell me that ballroom dancing is not about gearing every cell in your body towards winning.

Sportiness is, at most, half the story. What, for example, is the point of sporting a tan? And those costumes, those shoes - are they entirely functional? They seem entirely dysfunctional, yet are absolutely central to dancesport, because ballroom is as much about the theatrical - style, brio, playing the audience - as the physical performance.

Sport itself is not without its theatrical elements. Its style, cliques and fandoms, its costumes, drama and spectacle. But it would be a shame if dancesport ended up redefining performance solely as achievement. Already, the music often serves more to set the pace than to dance to, and the dancing itself can look perilously joyless. What happened to the pleasures of dancing?

http://www.outsports.com/columns/bell/whatissport20010827.htm

Ballroom Dancing Is Not a Sport - August 27, 2001
(So why is it in the Gay Games?)

By Jonathan M. Bell
For Outsports.com

I'm baffled. The Gay Games are supposed to be the Gay Olympics (screw trademarks, the Olympics are bigger than a trademark). If that is the case, why is ballroom dancing a competitive sport, and the equestrian event part of the cultural program?

That's not to say that every event in the Olympic Games should be there in the first place. I certainly don't support the inclusion of equestrian events in the Olympics. Synchronized swimming is, for me, on the bubble, as is ice dancing.

However, I'm more inclined to include any of those three in something labeled "sports" before ballroom dancing.

My definition of competitive athletics is very simple. If there isn't room for failure it isn't a sport. Unless people are pushed to the very limit of their physical and mental abilities and talent, sport is not taking place.

It could be recreation, it could be relaxation, it could even be creatively competitive, but it isn't sport.

I've watched several hours of ballroom dancing on PBS. I have yet to see a twisted heel, a dropped lift, a fallen competitor, anything that would indicate that people are pushing themselves beyond their capabilities.

They never push the envelope enough for there to be the possibility of failure. Sure, there are some nameless, faceless judges out there deciding who they liked the best, but that makes it the Pulitzer Prize, not a sport.

Yes, What these people do is very difficult. Many hours are spent in practice. But those practices are to determine just how far the dancers can push a routine on a consistent basis without risking failure.

The potential for failure is important, because the heart of athletics and sports lie in the drama of the attempt, not the elegance of the achievement.

I've spent years using this argument to defend figure skating.

Figure skating is rife with failure. We've all watched one of those tune-up competitions near the beginning of the season where everyone falls on at least one jump. Why did they fall? Because they were trying something new, shaking off the rust, or simply pushed farther than they were ready to go. But that very failure is where figure skating becomes a sport. Because the competition on the ice is so intense that one always has to push beyond one's current limitations, figure skating is a sport.

You can complain about "artistic" scores and costuming having no place in athletic competition, but until I see an NFL offensive lineman on ice skates land a triple flip, the fans of butch sports won't have a real argument.

Another competition at the Gay Games that has no business in a sports program is physique. The same rules apply. As far as I'm concerned it's as if we were having a fashion design competition at the Games, but with less cloth.

I'm not saying that bodybuilding isn't a worthwhile endeavor. As long as steroids or similar drugs aren't involved and as long as you can still tie your own shoelaces, bodybuilding is probably a very healthy way to live.

However, that doesn't make showing off your muscles a sport. You can't mess up in competition. It's like a fashion show. Any mistakes were made on the designer's sketchpad or the seamstress' sewing table, not the runway. A bodybuilder has a practiced routine. Your muscles are what you brought with you. I don't watch bodybuilding, but I think I would have heard of competitors whose routines were so difficult they fell during them.

Sport needs an element of potential failure or it isn't sport.

Lets all encourage the Gay Games Federation to make the Games about sport again. Lets put ballroom dancing and physique with bridge and chess in the cultural program where they belong.

And when we've finished that, maybe the world's real problems will be that easier to solve. I mean it's just a real embarrassment how much white gets worn after Labor Day, isn't it?

(Jonathan M. Bell is a writer and graphic designer in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. His fiction and poetry have appeared in several small press literary magazines including ``Jack the Daw,'' ``Parallax'' and ``Garcia’s Kitchen'' and have won several awards. His graphic design partnership, The Dog & Pony Show, creates corporate identity through the creative use of the print medium.

Aug. 27, 2001

http://www.jkozy.com/Ballroom_Dancing__Fine_Art_or_Sport.htm

Ballroom Dancing--Fine Art or Sport
July / August 1995

Ballroom Dancing--Fine Art or Sport?
by John Kozy, Jr.


A thing is what it is and not another thing and it doesn't become something else when its name is changed or it is described differently. This principle is absolute; it applies universally, even to ballroom dancing.

Yet there is a persistent confusion about just what ballroom dancing is. Is it a fine art? Is it a sport? It cannot be both, but it can be neither. The answer to this question is not to be found by searching dictionaries for definitions. It can only be found by closely examining the activity along with all of its ancillary doings and then comparing what is found to the doings of both fine arts and sports.
My own impression is that some have begun calling ballroom dancing a sport in the mistaken belief that it may then become as popular as sports. And I suppose the analogy they see is the common physical activity of both. One can slide easily from exercise to aerobic exercise to dance, but that is a trap even though some people may dance for exercise.

Physical activity is not the defining characteristic of anything, for almost everything we do involves it.

What then characterizes sport? For most sports, it is the scoring of points in a definitive way. One crosses the goal line in football, crosses the plate is baseball, sinks the ball in basketball, nets the puck in hockey, gets the ball on the ground in your opponent's part of the court in tennis, crosses the goal line first in a race. Of course there are a few exceptions, the most important of which are gymnastics, figure skating, and diving, although many people are as unsure about the status of these as some are about ballroom dancing. These three 'sports' are different than the other ­sports mentioned and are similar in many ways to ballroom dancing. But to those who want to call ballroom dancing a sport in the hope that its popularity will be thereby increased, it must be pointed out that gymnastics, figure skating, and diving are not all that popular.

So what then characterizes fine art? Great art, of course, is characterized by genius and originality. It requires the mastery of techniques which great artists then manipulate to express their own personalities. Fine art is associated with the profession of criticismmusic critics, art critics, drama critics, literary critics, and yes, dance critics. And alt­hough expert critics are not always the best judges of what is great art (they can be and often have been wrong), criticism is an integral part of the fine arts.

But have you ever heard of a sports critic? The idea is absurd. No one cares how a player crosses or reaches the finish line, no one cares how a player gets the ball through the hoop, but go to any dance competition where the adjudicators comment on performances and no matter how good you and your partner may look on the dance floor, you will be marked down for foot faults, insufficient shaping, carriage, inadequate upper body motion, and a host of other technicalities. Dancing is not a mere sport.

Another essential characteristic of a fine art is how the artist incorporates his or her personality in the performance. Art without personality is merely mechanical, a machine, and machines are not artists no matter how accurately they perform their techniques. Of course, it is important to dance with technical accuracy, but to dance well, accuracy must be embellished by personality.

None of this is important in sports. There are no school figures in baseball, basketball, football, tennis, track, the shot put or even bowling, archery, or volleyball. There are none in aerobic dance either.

So is ballroom dancing a fine art or a sport? How you dance will determine the answer for you. To me it can be nothing but a fine art. The school figures and how they are performed are important to me. So is upper body motion in contrabody positions and shaping in an oversway or a corte'. So is dancing to suit my personality; I avoid specific figures because I believe they make a person with my personality look foolish; I perhaps overuse others because they fit well, and I suspect all great dancers do the same; they just do it better.

Teodoro Morca, the great flamenco dancer, has said all of this far better than I, and I would like to close this piece with a few quotations from his "Becoming the dance".

"Technique for technique's sake is just that. If a technique does not say something of you and does not help you become the dance, then forget it. I have seen many dancers do a set routine of steps that are using music as Muzak. They have steps that fit, they are moving around in dance but they do not 'say' anything, because they are dancing steps and not being sensitive to the nuance and expression of the song." (How many showcase dancers have you seen dance this way?) "Footwork should say something, it should say something about yourself; it should be musically, visually, and dramatically a reflection of your feelings. Flamenco seems to require that the choreogra­phy be immediately adapted to the individual dancer. The dancer's interpretation and technique, feelings and emotions, should be considered from the outset. This can be said of any dance. Excitement does not come from copying what others have done choreographically. If the individual or personality is left out, it is then just mimicking steps."

To Mr. Morca, too, dancing is clearly a fine art.

Has the ordinary ballroom dancer anything to learn from this? I have, and I am no champion. I have learned that it is important to master the fundamentals, the school figures, the footwork, gestures, and bodywork that make dancing into more than just steps. But I have also learned that it is just as important to be myself and not some hurdy gurdy grinder's trained monkey.
Amateur Dancers
July / August 1995


http://hubpages.com/hub/Dancesport-Dancing-or-Sport

Ballroom Dancing and Dancesport: Dancing or Sport?
By Marisa Wright

Dancesport is another name for competitive ballroom dancing. To dancers from other genres, like me, it seems like a strange concept - after all, dance is a performing art, a form of self-expression and a means to entertain an audience. That doesn't seem to gel with the word "sport". However, ballroom dance has always had a different raison d'etre.
Ballet, jazz and contemporary dance were invented to be performed on a stage. Even though flamenco evolved by the campfire, and hip hop on the street, they're also made to be performed: get a bunch of flamenco or hip hop dancers together, and they won't all dance at once - they'll take turns, individually or in small groups, to take centre stage and be admired by the other dancers. The same is true of belly dance.

By contrast, ballroom dancing, like all the partner dances, was invented to dance socially.
Get a group of ballroom dancers together, and they'll all take to the floor at the same time. There's an element of showing off, but essentially each couple is dancing together for their own satisfaction.
It's true that in the heyday of ballroom dance, people like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers performed ballroom dances to an audience - but their style was closer to today's American Smooth, and the highlights are usually tap, not ballroom - as you can see in the clip on the right.
While you're watching, also note Ginger's upright stance and remember it for later!
In recent years, Jason Gilkinson has had great success with his "ballroom" show, Burn the Floor - but again, watch the whole show and you'll see it's not all standard ballroom or Latin dancing!
Like the ballroom and Latin numbers on So You Think You Can Dance, many of the routines are heavily embroidered with high lifts, arabesques and other non-ballroom moves.

Dance as a Career

If ballet dancers, flamenco dancers and belly dancers want to make a living from dancing, they seek careers performing in dance companies, musicals, on TV or in cabaret. Unfortunately, as we've seen, ballroom dancers don't have as many options. Perhaps that's why adult competition, rare in other genres, developed as the main way of earning a living for ballroom dancers. And from making it a competition, it's only a small step to making it a sport.
I'm sure some would argue that a dance competition is a form of performance, but it's not quite the same. In other dance styles, professional dancers achieve success by entertaining the audience - whereas a professional ballroom dancer achieves success by pleasing the judges. In that regard, ballroom dancing is closer to ice skating than to other genres of dance - it even uses a similar scoring system.

Different Aims, Different Outcomes

Given the difference in objectives, it doesn't surprise me that ballroom dance seems to be evolving very differently from other dance genres.
One of the big problems about judging an art form is that artistic merit is subjective. If you have a judging system that relies on the opinion of a judge, it will always be open to accusations of favoritism, no matter how respected the judge. So, like skating, ballroom dance judging systems have developed which have a heavy bias towards technical skills.

Here's a quote from The A-Z of Scrutineering for Ballroom dancing by Estelle Grasby:

"Queries are ... made about the subjectivity of Dancesport. An element of subjectivity does exist, but this could also be said of a lot of other sports and any concentration on aesthetics is just another portrayal of the competitor's commitment. Competitors are judged on their skill, performance and technique and ranked against each other, rather than being awarded a mark based on artistic impression."

As a dancer used to the way other dance genres are critiqued, this method of assessment seems completely upside down, especially once dancers are past the student phase. I saw Margot Fonteyn dance in her fifties, when her technique was becoming questionable, and I was completely spellbound. That performance will always rate far higher in my eyes than one by a technically perfect but soulless ballerina.
I do understand why non-subjective judging criteria is necessary. Unfortunately dancing becomes all about what's perceived to please the judges - for instance, all ballroom dancers wear fake tan, blonds dye their hair and eyebrows brunette, and everyone pastes on fake expressions, especially a cheesy smile. You'll often hear the judges at So You Think You Can Dance auditions tell a ballroom dancer to "lose the ballroom face" because the expression on a dancer's face should come from the heart. If they can't do it, it can be enough to lose them a place in the show.

Rules can also lead to a reluctance to be innovative, since the fear is always that something which doesn't meet the criteria isn't going to score well - which is what that wonderful Aussie movie Strictly Ballroom was all about!

Can Technique Go Too Far?

An emphasis on technique can also lead to exaggeration, as dancers try to do more of what the judges want. For instance, good hip action score points in Latin, so dancers try to move their hips more and more - until you get the absurd situation I saw at a Burn The Floor-type show recently, where the male dancers were violently gyrating and thrusting until I thought they'd put their backs out. It was painful to watch, and not in the slightest bit sexy!

In ballroom, the exaggeration is in the ladies' stance. Remember Ginger's relaxed, upright posture? Now look at the two videos below - one from 1979 and the other from a 2009 event.

The 2009 dancers are certainly better athletes than the 1979 pair - we have the knowledge to approach fitness more scientifically today. But why, oh why, do the women have to dance leaning so far back, as if their partner has horrible bad breath?
To be fair, in all dance styles there's a risk of becoming too insular and not seeing the dance as others see it. For instance, flamenco dancers can get so focussed on brilliant footwork, they'll choreograph dance after dance full of nothing else - and they don't realize that ordinary audiences, after the first few "wow" minutes, are yawning with boredom. Mature belly dancers get so used to letting it all hang out in class, they forget how normal people might react when they perform in public. And I watched a contemporary routine last week where the dancers did nothing but throw themselves on the floor repeatedly, in different combinations of twos and threes, and stood up again. I'm sure other contemporary dancers would have admired their skill, but I kept waiting for them to start dancing.
I'm sorry if some ballroom dancers are offended by this Hub, but all I can say is - one, remember it's my personal opinion and two, see if you can find some non-ballroom friends to read it and give you their honest opinion. You may be surprised!

Text copyright Marisa Wright.

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