Palms are sweating. Adrenaline is rushing. You’re about to take home the gold. You take your position, get a full running start and….. grand jeté?

Dance. What is it? Where did it come from? What does the word dance really mean? Well, I’m glad you asked my friend. Dance is a combination of a few ingredients: movements, compassion, trust, and skill. Some may say that dance is an art or a sport. Well, they’re wrong! Dance is both whether you realize it or not. Here’s the breakdown:

Art:

Dance is the language we “speak” without actually talking. It’s the way we send a message to the world with fluid movements. It gives the audience hidden signals about how we feel, what we’re doing, and where we are. The true art of dance isn’t about how high you kick your leg or how low your layouts are to the ground. It’s about what your arms, feet, and eyes are proclaiming to the crowd. Some of the best dancers in the world would describe dance as a lifestyle rather than a profession.

Sport:

This ongoing debate about whether dance is a sport has now come to end. I am here to exclaim to the world that dance is indeed a sport. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand this idea. After doing a bit of research, I found that dance could be classified as a sport because it’s competitive, athletic, and requires practice. If dancing was easy everyone would do it. Juan Bonilla agrees with my statement. This is what he has to say about it:

“For dance, we has tournaments and little competitions. And with those competitions you have to pop a sweat, you have to be sweating. You have to get around, get moving, and gain muscle.”