Is Dance a Sport?

By Holden Hartle, Blog Arguer and Definition Enthusiast

Is dance a sport? Is sport an art? This is something that my girlfriend and I argue about frequently. She, being a dancer, argues that dance is a sport, due to the physical exertion required in dance. I argue that sports require a competitive aspect, meaning that dance is not a sport. With all of this in mind, I do, however, believe that a dance competition is a sport.

I did the very cheesy thing to do in an argument like this, and I brought in the ol’ Merriam Webster (dictionary). He defines a sport as, “a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other.” Now, take a sport like baseball and apply these guidelines to it. Baseball is a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities, like running through the bases, according to a set of rules. Something like a ballet show has plenty of physical activities, but it isn’t a contest, and thus people aren’t directly competing against each other.

But, let’s look at the other aforementioned question: is sport an art? Kyrie Irving, a basketball player for the Boston Celtics, once said, “Basketball isn’t a game. It’s an art form.” He explains that things like putting responsibility in your teammates and turning that into plays on the court is its own “masterpiece.” So, how do we define art? Well, if we refer back to good ol’ Merriam Webster, he says that art is, “an occupation requiring knowledge or skill,” such as the art of making cabinets. I think everyone can agree on the fact that sports require both knowledge and skill.

So, sports are an art, but classical dance isn’t a sport. I want to make something very clear: I am not here to say that dancers aren’t talented. Being a dancer takes much of the same, if not more, athleticism than most sports, and, in my opinion, a dancer has much more skill than a darts player or a pool player, both of which are technically sports.  

Beyond dance and sports, the idea of fudging around with definitions to make them mean different things is a fun thing to do. For example, a pizza is defined as, “a flat, open-faced baked pie of Italian origin, consisting of a thin layer of bread dough topped with spiced tomato sauce and cheese.” Now, wait a minute, does that mean that if your sauce isn’t tomato based, like a white pizza, then it is no longer a pizza? And, what if your bread layer isn’t thin, is it still a pizza? Most people would agree that a pizza with a white sauce is still a pizza, but Merriam Webster has something to say about that.

Editor: Luke Langlois