Is Dance a Sport?

The debate on whether or not dance is considered a sport has been going on for years, and still goes on to this day. The definition of the word “sport” is, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” All of these aspects are a part of dancing. People who disagree with the fact that dance is indeed a sport, make the argument that the reason dance is not a sport is because it doesn’t involve a goal, like most sports do. Even though the sport, ping pong, doesn’t involve a goal either and yet it is in the olympics. Now in some arguments, people make some valid points explaining that dance isn’t a sport, but rather an art form. I also agree with this statement, but in competitive dance, I would consider dance both a sport and an art due to it’s ability to make the audience feel emotions, while competing with a team. Another reason I believe dance is a sport is the fact that all sports take time to train weeks in advance to a game, competition, or meet, as well as dance does. Not only do dancers train weeks in advance to perfect their synchronized movements, but they practice this throughout all year. unlike dance, other sports are only seasonal, and don’t train nearly as much dance trains. Not only do dancers train on a frequent basis, but dancing takes lots of skill and years of practice and perfecting, most people could learn how to play other sports within a few hours or days.