Glee. It’s the fourth quarter with three minutes, twenty-five seconds left in the game. The team huddles. Down by six, one touchdown will win the game. They take their stances, preparing for the play. The quarterback calls out the cadence, yet instead of snapping the ball, the team follows into a formation. Single Ladies, Beyonce’s hit single, blasts throughout the stadium. Paly’s future football scene? Or will we only see that on Glee?
As a dancer, I am constantly defending myself as an athlete. There are many who do not view dance as a sport, but instead as an extracurricular activity. But when football is mentioned, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that it is in fact a “grueling” sport.
I would like to note this: on average, Paly’s varsity football team spends 11 hours a week practicing during their season, plus five more hours for games, totaling 16 hours a week. Its season lasts nineteen weeks, if the team qualifies for states.
Compare this to my practices. On average, 15-25 hours a week, plus competitions, which last from six in the morning to midnight. Our season lasts 48 weeks.
Many who comment on the illegitimacy of dance do not know much about it. Even someone as athletic as a football player would not be able to last a day in a ballet class, not because of strength, but because they need to use specific muscles that are not used in football. That goes both ways. I would not last an hour in one of the football team’s practices.
25 out of 44 boys on the team said they would not consider dance a sport, contrasting with the popular view of many professionals.
Steeler’s hall of fame wide receiver Lynn Swann participated in dance classes throughout his professional career. In 2003, ESPN featured an ad with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders that read, “Without sports, they’d just be dancers.” They later came out with an apology ad featuring Swann leaping over the words, “Without sports, we’d only see dance on stage.”
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver took yoga classes for flexibility. Jets wide receiver Al Toon, Broncos wide receiver Vance Johnson and Bengals quarterback Akilli Smith studied ballet to reform their technique as well.
These players saw that many specific exercises done in dance could help their performance on the field.
Tendu, stretching the foot in front of the body while pointing your toes on the ground, improves flexibility in the ankles and feet as well as increasing agility during games.
A basketball player would not be able to jump without exhibiting a plie, bending your knees with your legs turned out.
Swimmers need maximum rotation in their arms; stretching the back and shoulders in a bridge can help to accomplish that.
In physics we study about follow through; extending the amount of force on an object to exert a larger force. Doing kicks in ballet can improve follow through in an athlete. Imagine: if Christoph Bono (’11) could follow through on his kicks, the ball could go much farther.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to hate on football or its players, but if professional athletes accept dance, why don’t more people here on campus?
If ballet were done in a room filled with weight machines and we didn’t wear leotards more people would do it. Yeah, it would be funny to see one of the boys in my class in a leotard, but the teacher would give him a pass if she saw him coming straight off the field, cleats and pads in his hands as he walked in the door.
People can change their views on subjects once they have tried them. In this issue’s article “The Viking Tries,” members of our staff took part in Zumba. Will Glazier (’11) and Dustin Nizamian (’11), both football players, took part in my poll before and after their Zumba experience. Both said dance was not a sport, until they took part in the class. Football and dance may seem like polar opposites superficially, but when Will and Dustin swapped their shoulder pads for leotards, they found that despite their prior assumptions and the stereotypes associated with dance, that a sport is not defined by public appeal, but by effort and athleticism.
