Dance should be considered a sport. Since I started dancing at 3 years old, this activity has taken complete control of my life. According to the Oxford dictionary, a sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. To me, this sounds exactly like what dance is.

While a lot of people think dance is just an activity people do for fun, it actually requires a lot of the same skills that many traditional sports require. Dancers must train for hours, perform under a lot of pressure and physically and mentally work very hard. A dancer needs a lot of strength and endurance for jumps, lifts, turns and balance, all of which need to be executed with precision and grace. Just like any other athletes, dancers must stay in shape by going to workouts and practices, so they can perform their very best on stage.

Dance also requires a huge amount of stamina. Dancers are constantly running dances back-to-back during practices in order to boost their stamina and make sure the routine is perfect. Training is very intense, often happening multiple times a week over a long period of time. Many dancers begin to dance when they are really young and continue this training for years to improve their technique, build strength and help their brains get better at memorizing choreography.

Another reason why dance should be considered a sport is the competitions. Dance competitions happen frequently, and at these competitions, they get judged on many different aspects, varying from technical execution to facial expressions. Dance studios will go head-to-head against each other to win high scores and get awards. The pressure of performing in front of judges requires a lot of focus and mental strength, just like any other sport.

It is also a huge time commitment. Many dancers, like me, are at the studio right after school, practicing for four to six hours a day. I am at the studio almost every day of the week, and I know many other dancers who have the same schedule as me. On top of rehearsals, we have a competition season which starts around February and ends around June. Competitions can start as early as 6 a.m. on Thursday and go till 11 p.m. on Sunday. When you are a dancer, you never get any free time, much like other sports.

In the end, dancers use athleticism, physical endurance, competition and a lot of their time, which are key qualities found in all sports. Yes, dance is a beautiful form of art and expression, but the competitive and physical demands that it requires prove that it should be recognized as a sport.