DanceSport a sport?

In earlier times, ballroom dancing was considered in many circles to be primarily an art. The modern notion of competitive dancing is of an "artistic sport", based upon the premise that it requires all of the following:

Physical Strength:
Similar to the strength needed in ice dancing (many ice dancing sequences are derived from dancesport), Agility and Co-ordination: to manoeuvre and maintain shapes and lines. These skills are similar to those required by a multitude of sports as diverse as diving, sailing, surfing, basketball or even football, but most closely to gymnastics.

Musical interpretation:
All competition dancers are required to demonstrate an appreciation of music and different rhythms in exactly the same way and for the same reasons gymnasts are required to demonstrate musical interpretation in their floor exercises.

Stamina:
Dancesport competitors proceed through heats to semi-finals and finals. In each championship section, competitors must perform five two minute dances a round. From an athletic viewpoint, a 1986 study conducted by the University of Freiburg, Germany, demonstrated that the muscle exertion (measured by the production of lactic acid) and breathing-rates of competitors performing one competition dance of about two minutes were equal to those of cyclists, swimmers and an Olympic 800 metre runner over the same period of time.

A dancesport competitor repeats this performance five times in each round and a finalist in a World Ten Dance Championship will have repeated this performance 30 times.

The German study's findings were repeated in a recent Australian study which was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Discipline and teamwork:
Competition dancing is essentially a team sport. The team may be a single couple, or may comprise up to 16 members in a "formation team". The discipline of 16 competitors performing up to 13 changes of dance tempi while constantly coordinating their floor positions with other team members far exceeds that of many other team sports.

Grace and style:
In common with ice dancing and gymnastics, fluid movements and attractive grooming are essential to success. In one sense it doesn't matter how competition dancing is viewed. Ballroom dancing also falls within the definition of recreational sport - through dance classes and social dance nights at ballroom studios and clubs. The image of ballroom dancing in general has been that of an older person's activity, an image assisted by the continuing popularity of the old dance movies. While this image is far removed from contemporary dancesport, it has in the past been a substantial inhibitor to broader participation in both competitive and social dance, particularly amongst the younger generation.