By: Kelsey Sowder

I’ve been dancing since I was three years old, and when someone asks

me if I play sports I always say I dance.  People argue with me that

dancing is not a sport. A sport is an activity that requires skill

and physical abilities as well as competitiveness. In dance, you have

a certain technique you have to follow, you move constantly, and you

go to competitions and compete with girls and boys of all ages.

Therefore, it proves that dancing is a sport. But to me, dancing is

more than a sport. It’s a way to express your feelings through

movement. While I am performing on stage I try to tell a story, or show

emotion to how something makes me feel. Like I said, dancing is a way

to express your feelings, and when you think about it, most people

express their feelings through writing. You don’t write when you

dance, you choreograph movements to show your emotion instead of

using words. I’ve danced to up- beat songs, and I’ve danced to songs

that talk about depression and loss, and in each type I have

expressed my emotion differently and the audience understands what I

am feeling. "The body says what words cannot" came from an amazing

dancer named Martha Graham and she is right. Sometimes, people are

scared to say what they feel about a situation. They are afraid of

how to say it or when to say it. I am one of those people. A dancer

is not a great dancer because of how good their technique is but how

great their passion is. My dance instructor constantly tells my class

to put emotion in your dancing. For example, if it makes you happy,

always smile. Other dancers struggle in knowing how to show emotion.

For me, its the easiest part of performing. My favorite part is getting to

perform and tell people what I’m too scared to say. Through dancing,

I can express my feelings in a totally different way, and everyone can

understand what I’m trying to say without saying a single word.