Many people consider dancing a competitive hobby, and although that may be true, dancing can also be classified as a sport. A sport can be defined as a physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Judges at a dance competition use rules to score a dancer and rank them by that score. Many sets of muscles are always used while dancing. When people are asked for their opinions on dancing, they had many different responses. Dancing is a sport because it uses physical abilities and dancers compete against others.
Dancing is not a competitive hobby, it is a competitive sport. As like in a sport, practice makes perfect. Most dancers begin lessons at the age of five and practice almost eight hours a day. (Competitive Dance, Wikipedia) Dancing also uses many of the same muscles as sports like baseball, basketball or soccer. It uses a dancer’s entire set of leg muscles, as well as back muscles, the glottal, and the arm muscles. (The Legs of a Female Dancer, Peak Performance) Calories are burned rapidly while dancing, as well as in a regular “athletic”. Every sport has a set of rules they must abide by, and of course dancing is no exception to that rule. Judges look for and score on turns, leaps, flexibility, uniformity/precision, formations/spacing, music interpretation, technique, showmanship, choreography, and overall impression. (Scoring Philosophy and Score Sheets/ All Star Challenge) Judges will then rank the dancer and place them in certain brackets such as: gold, silver, or bronze. When exerting muscles, burning calories, and being judged and scored, the classification of a competitive sport prevails.
Dancing should definitely be considered a sport. People who have been dancing for years and own their own studio were asked to give their opinions on dancing as a sport. An anonymous dancer of 15 years says, “Dancing is a form of exercise, so I would consider it a sport.” An owner of a dance studio says, “ Sport is just more than one person playing a certain game or activity against another person with governed rules. There are tons of dance leagues and competitions around the world.” (Competitive dance, Wikipedia) Someone with a lot of experience and training can fully explain why dancing is a sport. When a dancer moves her body with such elegance and grace, one must experience it to truly understand how hard it is and why dancing is a sport.
The classification of dancing is a very complicated process. It is considered a fine art because of the things it is judged on such as: creativity and performance. Being judged on the energy you put forth in a dance and the exercise you get at the same time do help others consider dancing as a competitive sport.
Pittman, Daniel. "Social Dancing: Art or Sport?" Central Home. 5 Apr. 2008
< http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/social_dancing.htm >.
"Scoring Philsophy/Score Sheets." All Star Challenge. 6 Apr. 2008
< http://www.allstarchallenge.com/pdfs/scoring.pdf >.
"Competitive Dance." Wikipedia. 4 Apr. 2008
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_dance >.
"The Legs of a Female Dancer." Peak Performance. 4 Apr. 2008
< http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0382.htm >.
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4 comments:
Adam Trahan
Mr. Hughes
English 3
20 April 2008
Is dancing a sport? (Qualified refutation)
Jada points out that dancing is a sport because it uses physical abilities and dancers compete against others. Jada goes on to define a sport as any thing that uses muscles to do an activity. When you think about sports you think of football or baseball. Something where two teams are going head to head against each other. Dancing is just a team being judged by someone, so it is really someone’s opinion who wins or loses. So to me, dancing is not a sport because it is not a head to head battle between two teams.
Dancing is not a sport because a sport is not just some one who uses muscles. In jada’s paragraph she defines sports as, anything that you use your muscles for. Well does that mean walking is a sport? Can you win a championship in walking because you use your muscles to walk? Sports have rules and scoring system while most dance competition does not have such things. Dancing at any professional level is a matter of style and personal expression while sports require a player to perform within a set of rules that are usually ridged and inflexible (Wiki Answers). Dancing is an art not a sport.
Just because dancing has competitions does not mean it is a sport. When you are judged by someone you put your fate in someone else’s hands. You do not have to face another dancer head to head at the same time. This puts pressure on someone to perform well. Jada makes the point in her paragraph that dancers practice hard. Just because they practice does not make it a sport. Dance is used mainly for entertain, communicate a message, or just for fun (collegeNET). Dancing is just a form of entertainment. They mainly perform at half time shows of football and basketball games. I would have to say that cheerleading is more of a sport than dancing. This is because cheerleaders support the teams and help them win. When some one is cheering for you it pushes you to perform well and win. A survey states that 65% of people believe that dancing is not a sports, it is an art (surveyAmerica).
I am not trying take away from dancers because it is hard to dance. You do practice a lot and put your whole life into it but that does not make it a sport. Many people under estimate the long hours dancers put into the practices and you have to be athletic to dance but that does not make it a sport either. Dancing is not a sport it is an art. Now that you listen to my refutation what to you think dancing is?
Dancing? A Sport? Maybe. [Qualified Refutation]
Through debate, argument, and conversation, the talk over dancing becoming a sport has never been categorized by a yes or no. Jada Boudreaux is one of the contenders in the ring for dance to become a sport, like that of football and basketball. Though Boudreaux does bring up good points in her work, the points are to broad and many regular activities and games could be classified as a sport the way Boudreaux words her thoughts. Dancing is a sport for it involves time, talent, and hard practice within one person, and possibly many others, to create a beautiful artistic display, but is not considered a sport when judged.
Boudreaux explains her reasonings on how dancing is a sport, not just a hobby. Because of children taking dancing lessons at a very young age, practice, muscle usage and the use of the dance for competition, dancing fits into the 'sport' category. Boudreaux's assumption is much to broad. Plug in the normal activity of "writing" and thus it would become a sport as well. Jada does not define what type of dance, only letting the readers know how judges would score a possible high school dance competition. Many tasks in our daily lives use many muscles and are picked up at a very young age, but dancing, even in front of a bedroom mirror, does take practice, like many other sports. In the eyes of one man and his friends, judging any type of activity would make it not a sport to begin with, for there should be no use of frame-by-frame cameras and the scoring of an athlete's body type. [ ItsNotASpot.com]
In Boudreaux's eyes, if an activity is exercise, it is considered a sport , but Jada's sources do not help her much. "[Dancing] is just more than one person playing a certain game or activity against another person with government rules." says one of Boudreaux's sources. Would this mean that ONE person going on stage to do a theatrical dance is not considered a sport? To the source and Boudreaux, yes. Also, Jada brings up exercise. If done, it is a sport. Not true. Many teenagers walk to school in the morning instead of riding the bus or driving. That is exercise, but is not considered some type of sport either.
Most dancers would be considered a participant in a sport because use of practice with one's self, or even with others, and the endless practicing they go through to train. A soccer player must be good alone, for he must be able to pass, shoot, dribble, but his/her teammates and his/herself must work as one complete unit, which takes days of practice. Boudreaux is not wrong, but only to broad in her assumptions. With the involvement of judging, dance competitions are not considered sporting events, thus not a sport whenever judged, but a sport whenever not.
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Off the record, I loved your paper and the free write blog! Very awesome! I hope you do great on the upcoming AP exam, that's if you're taking it.... and I hope you are!
<3
-- Jennifer
Unqualified refutation.
Jada seems to be confused with how to determine whether something is a sport or not. A sport can be defined as a head to head physical activity between two people or teams, with set rules. With this definition, dancing would be excluded. This is because dancing is not head to head. There are judges involved and there are no rules. The judges use guideline to rate how good or bad a dancer is. When it comes down to it, dancing is not a sport because it does not have real rules, just guidelines, and it is not a head to head competition.
Dancing is not a sport; it is a hobby. Dancing could easily be compared to other hobbies, such as painting. Both activities involve no head to head competition. And ultimately, the decision between the winner and the loser is in the judges’ hands. Jada says that there are rules that the judges use to score the dancers. There are not any rules, and the dancer is not punished for any mistakes made. The participants are free to go on stage and do as they please in order to satisfy the judges. They then get scored using a rubric, and the winner is declared. If that classified dancing as a sport, then writing this essay is a sport. Once written, Mr. Hughes will score the paper, using the rubric, and he could decide whose is best.
Dancing should not be considered a sport. Jada uses popularity to back up her claim. The popularity of an activity has nothing to do with it being considered a sport. Chess is a very popular game, but not considered a sport. She also claims that the muscles used would classify dancing as a sport. Again, using muscles have no impact on whether something should be declared a sport or not. Muscles are used for everything; whether it is dancing, swinging a bat, kicking a ball, or digging a hole. And hole digging has not been declared a sport yet.
In reality, dancing is simply just not a sport. Jada seems to believe it is because of the popularity of the activity and the muscles used in it. Sports consist of so much more. Dancing lacks the three things that sports require: head to head competition, set rules, and the ability of the outcome to be in the own players hands. The amount of effort, practice, and muscles used simply mean nothing when deciding weather dancing is a sport or not.
Dancing Is A Sport (Qualified Refutation)
ESPN's Sportcenter top ten plays is known for showcasing a days most impressive athletic feats. Whether it be a diving play in centerfield or a game winning buzzer beater, the number one play is sure to bring it's performer instant fame for at least one night. In all my years of watching Sportcenter, I have yet to see a grand plie make it to the top spot. Dancing cannot be considered a sport because it does not consist of head to head competition.
Yes, practice does make perfect. I will admit that dancing does take a lot of practice just like baseball, football, basketball, etc. But how much can one practice? There are only so many moves a dancer can learn, you can never stop learning things in baseball. Also just because you use muscles certainly does not classify the activity as sport. A person uses many muscles while having sex, and practice does make perfect. Could sex be considered sport as well? Sports are "governed by a set of rules or customs that is often engaged in competitively." There are two problems with this statement: if an activity has rules it does not make it a sport and dancing is not engaged in competitively. Competition is defined as a rivalry between two parties for an object desired in common. Two parties. Dancers do not go on the stage and battle one on one for the best score. It is a subjective competition, depending on the opinion of the judges. Real sports put two teams directly against each other to duke it out. Next, sets of rules cannot make something a sport. Scrabble has rules each player must follow. Scrabble also puts players directly against each other. Therefore, one could argue that scrabble is more of a sport than dancing.
Asking a person who has been dancing for fifteen years if dancing is a sport will not get you a valid answer. Of course they will think dancing is a sport, they've poured half of their lives into it. Yes, dancing is a form of exercise, but so is doing crunches.
Dancing is a very beautiful and graceful activity that takes a lot of practice. But to say it is on the same level as baseball, football, and other sports is an insult to the game's players. Has a dancer ever broke a wrist from sliding into second base? Has a dancer ever gotten a concussion from being hit by a 300 pound lineman? Sports are engaged in head to head without a judge scoring the players to see who wins. Dancing simply does not follow these guidlines and therefore, cannot be considered a sport.
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