I’m the oldest of three siblings and I grew up a chatty kid who loved the spotlight.
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My mom put me in dance classes as soon as I turned three because anytime music would play I would pull out my plastic stage, drag my parents to the couch, and make my dad video tape me dancing.
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I started off taking a ballet and tap class one day a week but the older I got the more invested I got. I added jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, lyrical, cecchetti, and musical theatre to my weekly schedule.
I loved learning it and I never got sick of pushing myself to be stronger, more flexible, and more graceful.
Me at the age of four, one year after starting dancing
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Throughout middle and high school I danced competitively in a company, rehearsing for hours after school as well as all day long on the weekends. I poured the majority of my time into becoming the best technical and artistic dancer I could be.
I prioritized dance over school, without question, and I never thought twice about it. Once I got to college, I decided to pursue a more rigorous academic career, so I reduced dance’s presence in my life to a mere two night a week dance club. It was more difficult than I thought it would be. I had known how much I loved to dance, but I hadn’t really understood why. I hadn’t thought about why specifically dance captured my attention.
I realized it was because it did so much for me. It was my release, my escape, and my way to let the rest of life go.
It was both my way to stay in shape as well as a creative outlet. I have tried and failed to find ways to fill the space dance took up. I have yet to find another hobby that encompasses both of those two categories. I try to do one or the other, but I miss the simultaneity dance offered: I could get an incredible physical workout while expressing and working through whatever feelings I was going through.
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As a senior now, I am about to stop formally dancing. Over the past few years spent appreciating what this hobby has given me, I have realized that this appreciation is not universal.
While most people would allow that dance has an artistic component, dancers are not the first to pop into anyone’s mind when they think of artists. Similarly, when I’m talking about sports with my friends and mention dance, they scoff and respond with a joke shooting down any possibility of dancers being athletes. This is frustrating because these perspectives aren’t looking closely enough. They are neglecting to give dancers the recognition they deserve as artists.
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The very artistry that dance embodies is what keeps it from being recognized as a sport.
The dancer must use their artistry to mask their exertion, always appearing to move effortlessly. This project will highlight what makes dance unique as an art and as a sport, and discuss whether or not it truly falls into either category.
For the millions that regularly tune into dance competition TV shows, or those that enjoy a night out at the ballet, or even those that love to watch Beyoncé in her music videos, this project will show why it is that dance is so appealing to watch, and what that means for where dance fits.