The Wilsonville Dance Team has an exciting and challenging year ahead of them, leaving no opportunity for the dancers to not work their hardest during every practice. This valuable practice time happens twice a week for two hours and 45 minutes, in the basement of the high school, with no air conditioning. 

Dancers are required to be in great physical shape due to the intensity of the activity. However, many people wouldn’t consider dance to be a sport because it is an inherently creative activity. 

Team captain of Wilsonville Dance Team Lacie Wheeler says “dance is a sport, it is still a huge time commitment, and I don’t want us to be thrown aside because we are not a “real” sport like football or baseball.”

Dance is not about how you play against others or how fast you can run, but about the final product you can present. Dance team is about looking the same, and dancing with purpose. To say that dance is not a sport would devaluate the effort and time each performer has put into their routine.   

Kyra Lorio, captain of the dance team, said when asked whether or not dance is an art, “if you can express yourself while dancing then it is an art, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be a sport.”

People watch dance because they want to be amazed by the effortlessness of the dancers and the skill they present. The Wilsonville Dance Team is a balance of art, strength, and unity. If one part of the performance fails the facade is gone. This means every single performer must be at their mental and physical peak in order to give a worthwhile performance. Although dance is about the final product and not about the process, the amazingness of the final product shouldn’t take away from the athleticism required to be a dancer.