Part of my high school adventures thus far include meeting new people. After exchanges of names the discussion usually turns to, "So, what do you like to do?", "Do you play sports?" or something like that. My answer, obviously, is that I ballroom dance. So far about half the people that ask me this question, laugh and tell me that, "Ballroom Dance is NOT a sport." In response I laugh and ask them what they like to do and let the conversation continue. But this bothers me. I want to retaliate. So here it goes. I am retaliating!
Sports are usually classified as an activity that requires a certain amount of physical strength and other abilities! right? In our first performance as team 2008-09 we did a swing number for the opening ceremonies of the county fair. The song we danced to was about 3 minutes long. only about 30 seconds of it was actual dancing/footwork. The rest of our routine included 15 lifts/drops where one in each partership was responsible for lifting the most or the entire body weight of their partner (obviously this was the men 99% of the time) and holding it for several seconds, and running from formation to formation. not jogging, RUNNING. We were in a rodeo arena and were using about half the space. now lets add in the fact that we did this in unison with the seven other couples dancing. Add in the fact that we were in jeans, button up shirts and cowboy boots. (and for the girls) in enough makeup to make someone gag. AND on a hot august afternoon.
Next topic. Every other day(B-Days) I get up at 4:45 a.m. to go to early morning ballroom class. Where i dance for an hour and a half. i have a 15 minute break in between that and first period to get into my skirt(and ballroom get-up) and get a drink. Then the real work begins. During 1st period ( another hour and a half) I have team practice. We work hard. We get gross and sweaty and we are all exhausted by the time class is over. The routine I descibed to you in the paragraph above is danced once or twice almost every time. We do other lifts and routines.
The last topic i will not go into dtail about. It is self explanitory. 2.5 inch heels that are skin tight for 3 hours straight on my feet. :) are you hurting yet?
This may seem like I am complaining about it. I am NOT. I LOVE IT!! I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. So thats it. Now i feel better. I have retaliated. Ballroom dance is a sport.
