Ballroom Dancing: Art or Sport?

Compiled by Martin Lamb

Greg DeWet:
Art… just because we sweat and are breathless after 1 round does not make it a sport…the word Tanzsport was created in order to receive Government funding, and what a good idea that was too !!

Marcos Liberato Shibuta:
Both, Because it´s a competition of an Art. To me it doesn´t matter it is a competition, because everyone is unique. Each couple brings movements and feelings ( I am no expert ) To experts they should have certain characteristics that should be performed against certain standards. That is why it is both an Art and Competition.

Arina Grishanina: ‎
“When we start a dance- Its an Art! But when we finish a dance- Its a Sport!”

Saw it in one article:))

Michael Herdlitzka:
Dancing is an art. It becomes a sport by competing. Practising with the implementation of knowledge out of sports science is very helpful. Nevertheless dancing is an art.

Anthony Hurley:
Definitely an Art. the element of sport content is pitting your skills against other couples. The fact that dancers are probably as fit as athletes is derived from complete harmony between the two bodies over five rounds.not many athletes could match this, but our couples could become reasonable athletes.Thats why our art is unique.

Marcos Liberato Shibuta:
Also a sport, you need to be in shape to perform all those dances. I remember of those competitions the “last one standing”, It is not just an art.

Michael Baumann:
it is the combination of sport, art and show. more or less you can decide for yourselfe in which direction your way as a dance couple goes. and of course the judges and/or trainer are the police of what is tolerated.

And sport is the main fundament for showing art and show in all technical-compositional sports like dance sport.

Korál Wynn:
I think the Either/Or perspective is invalid. It must be Both/And. The reason for this is simply that ART has, in its vision, transcendence as a goal. Yet, since this is an ART which utilizes the human body as its substrate, any possibletranscendence from what we “can” do to what we “could” do requires discipline and training. This is where it becomes SPORT. For the ancient Greeks, there was no distinction. The underlying principle was simply “Areté”, the virtue of excellence. The sculptures of Olympic athletes had only this in mind, a statement of excellence.

To think for a moment that a Ten Dancer is NOT an athlete, is unimaginable. To think that a dance which brings tears to our eyes might not be ART… is unfathomable. In it’s full expression, dance is both ART and SPORT, in my humble opinion.

Victor Tsemko:
To answer the question if the Ballroom & Lating Dancing is an Art or a Sport we should go to the definition of what is sport and what is art. Free encyclopedia gives the following definition of SPORT – “Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively”. It’s just one of possible definitions. I think of sport more like a physical activity that targets development of certain physical abilities of bodies (“Faster, Higher, Stronger!”). I could not find a definition of Art that felt adequate, so I formulate the definition as I feel it – The ART is a creative interpretation of sensing the surrounding through the prism of the emotional body.

Therefore I see DANCING first of all as an ART with only some aspects of SPORT. Like in sport there is a science behind dancing, like in sport, physical conditioning and fitness helps achieving great results. However the ART component in dancing is dominant and the SPORT component is secondary. I can imagine dancing without the sport component involved, but I cannot imagine dancing without the artistic aspect.

Even when we call it “Dancesport” it is still an ART that has been adjusted and reglamented accordingly to some sporting criteria, fitted into the “Sport frame”, but not a sport that has been modified to look like an art

Gherman Mustuc:
Well dear Friends and Colleagues, looks like everyone keeps walking around and around, but nobody hit the a TARGET yet… Let me give you some of my thoughts, especially that the right answer is very very EASY. We can talk a lot about this subject……… The question is: “What is our goal? Which result we a trying to achieve with our answers?”

DO WE WANT A BALLROOM DANCING TO BECOME A SPORT???
I think it will be a GREAT IDEA to make our “LIFETIME PASSION” to become even more popular around the world!!! We will get more fans and we will get MORE MONEY from the governments, sponsors, commercials, TVs…….!!!!!!! ….At the end of the day if the “Curling” is a Olympic sport, the ballroom dancing can be over there 100 times already…

NOW, can it be a SPORT today? In a form that have actual being right now – NO WAY!!! In English language exist a nice definition of one form of the ART-
“The PERFORMING ARTS”

The PERFORMING ARTS are those forms of art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist’s OWN BODY, FACE, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object. The term “performing arts” first appeared in the English language in the year 1711.

Performing arts include the DANCE, music, opera, drama, magic, Spoken word, circus arts and musicals. Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers, including actors, comedians, DANCERS, magicians, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are also supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting and stagecraft. Performers often adapt their appearance, such as with COSTUMES and STAGE MAKEUP, etc.

What is a “DANCE”?

DANCE (from Old French dancier, perhaps from Frankish) generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting.

DANCE is also used to describe methods of non-verbal communication (see body language) between humans or animals (bee dance, mating dance), motion in inanimate objects (the leaves danced in the wind), and certain music genres.

Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who does this is called a choreographer.

Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement (such as folk dance) to codified, virtuoso techniques such as ballet. In SPORTs, gymnastics, figure skating, and synchronized swimming are DANCE disciplines while martial arts “kata” are often compared to dances.

You can ask, “So what about a Figure Skating?”… Well, what is a Figure Skating?

Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform SPINS, JUMPS, footwork and other INTRICATE and CHALLENGING moves on ice skates.

DO WE HAVE THOSE TYPES OF MOVES in the Ballroom Dancing????? NO!!!!!!! (Rumba walk or Feather Step???)

This is your “ANSWER”!!!!

Change the format of competitions, add some TRICKS, LIFTS, JUMPS, FLIPS something else with a HIGH RISK!!!!! And EVERYONE will be able to call it a SPORT!!!

As of today the only ONE category of our “LIFETIME PASSION” that we can call a SPORT is …….The FORMATION DANCING!!!!!!

By the way, almost every BALLET dancer have a BETTER body development, better physics and can do much more different stuff with they bodies that so call “DANCE ATHLETES”…….

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Do you have your own thoughts on dance as art vs. sport? Share using the comments area below.