The official definition of “sport” is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.  According to this definition, a sport does not require a ball, a puck, or even a goal.  For that reason alone, dance does qualify as a valid sport.  However, if the definition of “sport” does not convince you that dance does in fact fit into this category, I will further break it down for you.

Professional athletes train so that they can improve their fitness and skills and achieve overall success on the court or field.  Similarly, dancers follow a strenuous training schedule in order to enhance their technique and perform at their best ability.  Professional dancers generally train five to six days per week and as many as eight hours each day.  A dancer in a professional ballet company may start the day with a warm up class, followed by four to six hours of rehearsal.  On top of this, they typically perform or take additional technique classes in the evenings.  While a common argument is that dancers only need strong legs, in reality dance demands total body strength.  Not only do dancers practice their grand jetés and pirouettes, but they must also build up their core strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance. Dancing requires the body to be in top shape and many dancers work on this outside of the studio through yoga, Pilates, swimming, running, or even biking.  Misty Copeland, principle dancer at the American Ballet Theater says, “If I have time, I take Pilates mat classes, Gyrotonic privates using the reformers, and occasionally will run on the elliptical machine.  I also like to do floor barre classes with my private teacher.”  Similarly, male dancers in particular must have a great deal of upper body strength in order to master challenging lifts with their female counterparts. Although dancers may only be on stage for a three-minute piece, hours of hard work and practice will go into this one performance.

In addition to being physically demanding, dance is also a mental game.  Dancers must remember every step in order to stay synchronized with one another. When dancers perform in a group, they must work off of each other in order to stay in unison.  If one person is dancing even slightly different from the others, it can throw off the entire routine.  Likewise, professional athletes must remember each play and work well with their teammates.  In both cases, everyone in the group must be aware of what is going on around them so that they all remain on the same page.

A common argument against dance being a sport is that it does not involve any sort of competition.  However, dance teams have become increasingly popular in the dance world.  At competitions, dancers perform a certain style of choreography and are then scored by a panel of judges based on categories including technique, stage presence, and performance quality.  The dancers are then ranked based on their scores and the overall top scorer typically receives a cash prize and a title as the winner.  To prepare for a competition, teams may train up to 20 hours per week leading up to the event.  Both dancers and instructors take these competitions very seriously, just like professional athletes and coaches strive for success in each game they play.  In reference to dance competitions, Abby Lee Miller from the popular reality show, Dance Moms, says, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”  Although this may seem extreme, it proves how intense the dance world can be.

At the end of the day, dance is not all about tutus and sparkles.  Dance involves blood, sweat, and tears just like any other sport.  Next time you watch a dance performance, give the dancers more credit.  Although they may be winded, exhausted, or even injured, they would never let this show on stage.  Dance is challenging, and it is unfortunate how this is often overlooked.  Being a dancer myself, I’ve been told on multiple occasions that what I do is easy.  However, many people are unaware of how much time and effort is put into each performance.  Misty Copeland speaks for many dancers when she says, “I sweat, grunt, and make faces that would never pass on the Metropolitan Opera House stage. It’s the time to push myself beyond my limits so that my performances can feel effortless, fresh.”