Ballroom Dancing Is Not a Sport
(So why is it in the Gay Games?)

By Jonathan M. Bell
For Outsports.com

I'm baffled. The Gay Games are supposed to be the Gay Olympics (screw trademarks, the Olympics are bigger than a trademark). If that is the case, why is ballroom dancing a competitive sport, and the equestrian event part of the cultural program?

That's not to say that every event in the Olympic Games should be there in the first place. I certainly don't support the inclusion of equestrian events in the Olympics. Synchronized swimming is, for me, on the bubble, as is ice dancing.

However, I'm more inclined to include any of those three in something labeled "sports" before ballroom dancing.

My definition of competitive athletics is very simple. If there isn't room for failure it isn't a sport. Unless people are pushed to the very limit of their physical and mental abilities and talent, sport is not taking place.

It could be recreation, it could be relaxation, it could even be creatively competitive, but it isn't sport.

I've watched several hours of ballroom dancing on PBS. I have yet to see a twisted heel, a dropped lift, a fallen competitor, anything that would indicate that people are pushing themselves beyond their capabilities.

They never push the envelope enough for there to be the possibility of failure. Sure, there are some nameless, faceless judges out there deciding who they liked the best, but that makes it the Pulitzer Prize, not a sport. 

Yes, What these people do is very difficult. Many hours are spent in practice. But those practices are to determine just how far the dancers can push a routine on a consistent basis without risking failure.

The potential for failure is important, because the heart of athletics and sports lie in the drama of the attempt, not the elegance of the achievement.

I've spent years using this argument to defend figure skating.

Figure skating is rife with failure. We've all watched one of those tune-up competitions near the beginning of the season where everyone falls on at least one jump. Why did they fall? Because they were trying something new, shaking off the rust, or simply pushed farther than they were ready to go. But that very failure is where figure skating becomes a sport. Because the competition on the ice is so intense that one always has to push beyond one's current limitations, figure skating is a sport.

You can complain about "artistic" scores and costuming having no place in athletic competition, but until I see an NFL offensive lineman on ice skates land a triple flip, the fans of butch sports won't have a real argument.

Another competition at the Gay Games that has no business in a sports program is physique. The same rules apply. As far as I'm concerned it's as if we were having a fashion design competition at the Games, but with less cloth.

I'm not saying that bodybuilding isn't a worthwhile endeavor. As long as steroids or similar drugs aren't involved and as long as you can still tie your own shoelaces, bodybuilding is probably a very healthy way to live.

However, that doesn't make showing off your muscles a sport. You can't mess up in competition. It's like a fashion show. Any mistakes were made on the designer's sketchpad or the seamstress' sewing table, not the runway. A bodybuilder has a practiced routine. Your muscles are what you brought with you. I don't watch bodybuilding, but I think I would have heard of competitors whose routines were so difficult they fell during them.

Sport needs an element of potential failure or it isn't sport.

Lets all encourage the Gay Games Federation to make the Games about sport again. Lets put ballroom dancing and physique with bridge and chess in the cultural program where they belong.

And when we've finished that, maybe the world's real problems will be that easier to solve. I mean it's just a real embarrassment how much white gets worn after Labor Day, isn't it?

(Jonathan M. Bell is a writer and graphic designer in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. His fiction and poetry have appeared in several small press literary magazines including ``Jack the Daw,'' ``Parallax'' and ``Garcia’s Kitchen'' and have won several awards. His graphic design partnership, The Dog & Pony Show, creates corporate identity through the creative use of the print medium.

Aug. 27, 2001