Would you say dance is a sport?

[Siella]

I'm asking because my dc school are always rewarding children for their sporting achievements and award sports ties etc...alot for Horse riding, football, rugby etc. .and I'd quite like to let them know of my dd achievements in dance along with some other children at the school who have just taken exams at the same dance school...they'll probably say they don't want me to but would I be unreasonable if I did. It would be nice for dance to be recognised too.

This is why I hate the term ‘sport’. It gets so much attention which is great for those with sporting achievements but other achievements are overlooked such as dance, drama, music, arts. Any dancers I know are fitter and stronger than average

I'd presume that the school wants to tell its students about pupils' sporting achievements to help encourage others to get more active. From that stance, I'd agree that dance is definitley a sport. no, it's not a team sport, but neither is archery, martial arts etc. but they are definitely sports.

Does the school recognise achievements in other fields, such as music? If so, then I think they should include success in dance as well.

For grade 6 ballet and upwards you are awarded UCAS points, and you don't get that with many sports, do you?

I also wondered this for my year 7 son when I noticed the school awards badges for competing at an elite level. My son competes dancing internationally and I wondered if it qualified.

It's a sport for GCSE PE so I would say so

My standard grade (Scottish equivalent of GCSE) talk had to be about a favourite sport. I chose competitive cheerleading, explaining that it had more attributes of a sporting team game than say darts.
My teacher was furious that I hadn't picked an actual sport and failed me. It brought my grade down. In the long run, this didn't matter. I still got to Uni and into my chosen career but he was absolutely insistent that dance cannot be considered a sport but that figure skating can. I've still never understood that.

There are some blurry lines somewhere.

To be a sport it should be competitive, win / loose against someone else.

There is an arguement that things that need judged shouldn't be a sport but then that takes out gymnastics, figure skating, some of the snowsports and synchronised swimming.

Ice dance and synchronised swimming are arguably 'arts' the same as dance rather than sport but because they have developed from sports they are seen as sport.

However if the questions is should school recognise achievements out with school.

Then if they are recognising Sporting achievements they should also recognise Art's, which could include craft competitions, dance and music.

Anything that encourages kids to get off the couch, do something and shows commitment to their chosen activity.