Conclusion

Being a dancer, I am familiar with just how much work it takes. Aside from in-class practice, most dancers practice outside the studio too. At the school I go to, ballet, tap, and jazz are all offered as P.E. classes, as the California state code allows for them to be used as physical education classes. I also take a ballet class outside of my school, and when I'm done with everything, I usually practice for 30-120 minutes each day. I'm not a professional dancer; I'm just a beginner. Professional dancers work much harder and for much longer. A football player has practice and then may go and work out for a few hours; with dance it's the same way. Dance should be known as a sport as much as football is known as a sport. As noted on the first page, dance fits under the definition of sport.

Many people consider dance to not be a sport because they think of it as a "girls thing." I like to look at it like this; gymnastics is in the Olympics and it is mostly a "girls thing." Figure skating is also in the Olympics; judged by a panel of judges. Many people also seem to believe that dance isn't a sport because it is not head on like football and baseball, but is instead judged by a panel of judges, and yet, they will call gymnastics and figure skating sports? Those are judged by a panel of judges, too. Below is an interesting article on the topic, and I personally agree with everything the author is saying.