Breakdancing is art not sport

Written By:
Daniel Myung

Published:
Oct. 08 2009

It takes an athlete to dance, but it takes an artist to be a dancer.  So let’s get one thing straight.  As a breakdancer, I do not do sports; I am an artist.  Dancing cannot be considered a sport.  I understand and respect the passion many people have for sports, so I will not bash that topic.  But as a dancer, I find it terribly annoying when people view dancing as a sport rather than an art. 

            If it was a sport, we would be nothing but monkeys dancing to impress.  The truth is, we dance to express, not impress, so quit asking us to “do more” to entertain.  Not only that, I feel dancers are underestimated.  I bet you probably do not realize how physically demanding dancing is. 

            How about this: let’s compare a few differences between sports and dancing.  Sports are physically dynamic, of course, but you repeat the same motion over and over again.  Technically, you only train for a specific muscle in strength and precision.  Dancing, on the other hand, requires creativity and originality, so you hardly ever see dancers repeat a motion in a single performance or set.  Because we use our entire body to express a form, we are forced to train every square inch of our body.  Yes, everything.

            Almost every sport I know, except for a few like ping pong, require the players to buff up and lift weights.  Even in our school, almost every football player I see probably carries arms heavier than their heads.  They may bench over 200 pounds whenever they have a weight lift session, but dancers dance almost every day lifting their entire body weight, which, on the average, is about 120 pounds or more.  So what would actually create “real” muscle?  Lifting 200 pounds for about an hour or two twice or three times a week or dancing for more than five hours almost every day of the week constantly lifting 120 pounds or more?

            Dancers are not the frail, emotional, boring people that many see us as.  Dancers are just as strong, if not stronger, and way more creative than a quintessential athlete.  In terms of movement, the very essence of dancing is control because the control gives us elegance.  So you see, dancing asks us to do more than move our bodies; it demands physique, imagination and passion.  Dancing is not a sport; it is an art.