The Importance Of Dance As A Sport

Dance is defined by Howard Nadel and Raymond Strauss of The Dance Experience as “a purposeful human endeavor that involves components that can be universally observed even when appearing in widely varying forms” (121). Most people perceive dance only as a form of entertainment. Not only is dancing enjoyable, it is a means of physical activity which requires certain skill sets and can be labeled as a sport. I believe that dance encompasses all the requirements other sports have and therefore should be labeled a sport. Dancers go through the same physical endurance, strengthen exercises, sweat, and pain like any other sport. Like other sports, dance is a way to express or release feelings within the body. Sport is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. During the 2001-2002 academic school year, Idaho State University launched a nationwide study to investigate dance program as a sport. Respondents viewed dance as being characterized by the defining elements of sport. Studies like this help shine a light on the physical nature of dance which verifies why it should be labeled as a sport. …show more content…
Most people believe that in order to dance, a good ear for rhythm and stretching allows a dancer to gracefully land on pointe or, launching into a jump. What they fail to realize is that dance requires an ability to carry your full body weight when doing pointe work, and reliance when leaping feet in the air into your partner’s arms. Though stretching helps with flexibility, stamina and endurance are necessary tools which help the dancer as much as it helps a tennis player. The physical demands of dance are just as stressful on the body as tennis is on the arms, or soccer on the