Frozen. Tendu derriere with delicate fairy arms placed in perfect unison with the other corps de ballet members that surround a soloist. Curtain up. Lights illuminate the sweat dripping from my brow as I attempt to calm my deep and frantic inhales. The soloist steps forward and bows. The packed audience is erupting with applause as if some sports team just one the super bowl. On cue, we all step forward into a line that has been practiced to perfection and as the gargantuan, red curtains engulf the stage, a collective sigh of relief can be heard, and felt, through the whole building. I look down at my smudged satine pointe shoes that are obstructed by the bulbus tutu which continues to restrict my breathing. And after the show, like clock work, all of the girls embraced loved ones and accept copious amounts of compliments on their grace and beauty and “effortless” dancing. As a dancer, this is what we strive for. To appear, for two to three short hours, as if we are defying laws of gravity. To gift the audience with the levity and elegance that ballet is known for. And while this aspect is what makes dance a gorgeous and awe inspiring fine art, audiences never see the other side of dance. The literal blood, sweat and tears that come from devastatingly long rehearsals. The soreness and injury caused by endless repetition of steps in hopes of achieving unachievable perfection. There has been an ongoing argument in the arts community and society in general over whether or not dance is an art or a sport. However, what people fail to realize is that dance is so beautifully complex that it could never be confined to simply one category. The undeniable truth is that dance is both sport and art which is what makes it so utterly appealing to audiences of all shapes and sizes around the world.

The definition of a sport is an activity that involves physical exertion and skill and the most popular sports in the U.S are basketball, baseball, and football. To break it down, basketball is a team sport with lots of running and requires a ball to be accurately thrown into a hoop to win. Baseball involves hitting, catching, and throwing. Finally, the most popular, football is notable for big strong guys running toward, and into, one another in order to gain possession of, and run a ball into either side of the field. The running aspect of all three of these games would be considered physical exertion and all the fancy catching, hitting, and throwing would be classified as skill; therefore, these three activities are most definitely sports. Unfortunately, one could then turn their attention to a dance performance and see something that, from the outside, looks extremely easy and graceful; anyone could do it… right? Wrong. While preparing for a performance, a dancer’s schedule is roughly as follows: morning warm up class, a day of rehearsals, dinner break, personal or company warm up class before a three hour show in the evening. Depending on the company and dancer this schedule may also include an individual cardio or strength workout. If that doesn’t sound like physical exertion, I don’t know what is. In terms of skill, dance, especially ballet, goes above and beyond. When a dancer is young they are taught simple, french terminology like plie and tendu. As the dancer continues training they work themselves up to doing combinations of more and more difficult steps. For example, a turn combination across the floor may include a waltz paired with a triple en de or pirouette followed by an attitude turn into 4 pique turns rotating around the room and ending in an arabesque balance. Sound like a different language? Ballet, and dance in general, takes years of training to develop a dancer’s mind to understand and process complicated combinations and the body’s strength to execute them. While this may sound like enough for one sport in the skill category, ballet doesn’t stop there. Once men ballet dancers begin training at the pre-professional level they must be taught the skills for lifting, throwing, and turning their female partners. Women, on the other hand are gifted with their first pair of pointe shoes. Pointe shoes are the infamous ballet slipper made of satin, wood, and all sorts of other fun stuff that assist the dancer in standing, turning, and jumping on the very tops of their toes. The masterful skill of dancing en pointe takes another lump some of years to refine and plenty of risk. Therefore, from a completely analytical standpoint, one can easily argue that dance is in fact a sport.

For centuries people have been asking the controversial question: what is art? From Duchamp’s readymade sculptures, to Pollock’s abstract expressionism. Even in the dance community people argue that new forms of modern dance maybe be straying too far from true art. However, the definition of art is the expression of human creative skill and imagination producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty of emotional power. Dance will always fit under this definition no matter how much it may change over the years. Starting with classical ballet, the most refined and renowned form of dance, people came to accept dance as art. Classical ballet is mystifying because it uses the bodies of dancers to personify music and make it tangible to the human eye. It can express the deepest and truest forms of human emotion without speaking a word. Dancers are some of the most connected and prolific artists in the world. They are not afraid to push boundaries. This, I believe, is why dance has grown so extensively. It's because of a passion and fire within the artist to push dance, and art overall, to its full capacity and, in turn, push humanity to those boundaries as well. From this never ending yearning for something more, Balanchine elaborated on the classical ballet of old with New York City Ballet. As time went on, the way dance changed became more and more radical: Jazz, swing, tap, lyrical, modern, hip hop. Expanding and expanding in a endless goal to touch the hearts of all cultures and all individuals. These developments, in my opinion, is what truly classify dance as a fine art. It's not only the ability to capture human expression and put it to music but also the ability to want more and push that art form has far as it can stretch. If there is one thing art is not, it's stagnant. Art can make people cry, take their breath away, have them laughing for days, it can give peace, it can comfort. Dance, in all of its fluidity and grace can do each and everyone of these things. It is an irrefutable truth that dance is an art. And not just one facet of it; it is an art in all of its shapes and sizes, without exception. It's important to point out that as the decades have progressed dance has become more validated as a fine art. This can be shown through compilation and partner performances of dancers working with other artists. Flash mobs in museums, performing art installations incorporating dance movement, singing performances accompanied with classical and non traditional dance numbers, and of course the timeless art of musical theatre. Through these partnerships dance has become solidified in its status.

In the end, I stand firm in my position: dance is an art AND a sport. The fact that a conversation disputing the fact has raged on for so long is honestly troubling. The skill it takes to be a dancer, I believe, is far above that of any other sport. The strength and perseverance needed to be a dancer is utterly astounding. The human emotion that dance evokes is mind boggling and extraordinary. And the pure beauty that dance is known for is undeniable. By all analytical definitions, dance fits the bill. However, it is so much more than words on a page. Dance could never truly be defined in rhetoric, it must be seen and experienced and felt in one's soul and one’s heart. Only then can it be validated by each and every individual.