What defines an Olympic sport? According to olympic.org and the Olympic Charter on chapter three, rule 45 an Olympic sport must meet these three requirements: it has an International Federation, it has different disciplines, and it includes different events or competitions for judging. Recently the Winter Olympics wrapped up with many great sports including ice skating. After watching ice skating competitions, one thing comes to mind, why is ice-skating in the olympics but not dance?

Dance meets all these requirements and could easily be included in the summer Olympics, but still is not seen as an Olympic sport. There are several reasons as to why some feel dance does not qualify but when considering the similarities between the two, the fact that ice skating is allowed in the olympics, and not dance is offensive.

Many serious figure skaters must train in ballet to learn balance and technique, and ice dancing is similar to ballroom dancing in the sense that it is partnered and the story  behind the piece. The concept of dance remains in the heart of ice skating, yet dance still goes unrecognized.

Another reason dance is not in the Olympics is because many believe dance  is an art form and remains too subjective to  be judged in a competition. Which would be a good point, but they’ve forgotten that ice skating too is an art form. Ice skater use emotions, facial expressions and costumes to express the creativity behind the choreography which, graded or not, does come into play when judging the ice skaters.

Some also feel that dance will lose it’s artistic value if it enters the olympics as a sport, but dance will always be a way to express one’s self. Just because the choreography must include certain tricks to be judged in the Olympics, does not mean that dance will no longer remain an art form.

Ice skaters must also fulfill certain requirements in their performance, but that does not mean that ice skating is any less beautiful or any less creative. Dance and ice skating both are used as a freedom of expression, and nothing can take that away from the two sports.

Dance is the origin of ice skating, the only difference is one is on ice and the other on land. While various opinions remain about why dance should, or should not be a part of the Olympics, the truth of the matter is dance created ice skating, a sport that is recognized in the Olympics, while dance is left in the dust. Why do we reward the offspring but not the creator?

Dance should be included in the summer Olympics because it meets the requirements to qualify and deserves the recognition of an Olympic level sport.