Dance team executing their routine after hours of practice. Photo by Sandra Onby Tejas Chadha, staff writer
The dance team at Fountain Valley has to do a semester of Physical Education (PE) to fill up their graduation requirements. Because of the work and physical activity that goes into being a part of dance, some dancers feel that they shouldn’t have to do PE.
According to dance team co-captain Heaven Cha (’17), the minimum amount of time a dancer would spend practicing is five hours, not including the additional practice that goes in before a competition or assembly, and the time taken at each tournament and assembly itself.
“It adds another period into your day, which for some girls it does conflict because they have six classes instead of five,” said Cha.
For some dancers who are active in other extra-curriculars other than dance and or involved in advanced classes, having another class can make an already busy schedule even busier. According to the dancers, it can cause an issue with having to try to fill in their desired classes along with PE and dance.
Dance team co-captain Madi Haney (’17) said, “Competition dance is a sport not just something you can be lazy about, we actively condition two times a week and not to mention dancing is really hard to do.”
Not only this but the actual rigor of dance is much greater than that of PE, according to the dancers.
“PE is way easier than what we do in dance so I don’t think it helps us in any way to do it,” Cha said.
They believe the time and actual physical demand needed is much more than PE can deliver yet they are still not considered a sport.
“We work so hard and we should be considered a sport, I don’t know why we aren’t,” said Haney.
