Anyone know status of B'room dancing as an Olympic sport?

I heard ballroom dancing was going to be an exhibition sport at the Olympics but I didn't hear details as to which olympics. Does anyone have any information about this? I apologize if this has been asked before, but I didn't see any posts on this. Thanks.

CNBC is taking a poll, and Ballroom Dancing is losing, when they asked which sport should be added next.

Maybe your votes can help:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/Promos/P92123.asp

Thanks - one more vote for karate here. I think it's less likely to be ruined by Olympic influences.

Karate versus Ballroom dance? Is that what I'm hearing? Who thought that up? Why isn't there room for both? :roll:

(I hear you, though, Warren, and you're right. Dancesport as we know it would likely be changed irrevocably by a brush with the IOC. :? )

As I understand it, Ballroom Dancing won't be in the 2008 Olympics. 2012 is a possibility.

The issue that is holding back ballroom dancing from being included in the Olympic Games is the objectivity of the judging. Until TPTB [IDSF or WDDSC] assure the Olympic Committee that the judging panel solely judges for a living, ballroom dancing will not be included.

For those who are ballroom dancers, we all know from our competitions that the judges involved also have coached the competitors. That's how they make a living, and it's acceptable to me.

So is there any objectivity? Probably so from our perspective and experiences, but with the figure skating scandal that happened a couple of years ago, and figure skating judging is often used as a model for ballroom dancing judging, it seems like it would be difficult to convince the Olympic Committee there's integrity in the judging. TPTB would also have to convince the general non-dancing public as well.

Also, will Ballroom Dancing get the ratings? Hmm...the lack of ballroom dance shows on TV, probably due to low ratings, adds another layer of difficulty of including our favorite activity in the Olympics.

All I can say is that if Field Hockey can be included as a Olympic sport, Ballroom Dancing can be too. Not that there's anything wrong with Field Hockey...

Exactly. Does anybody here watch field hockey or, for that matter, archery or rowing, other than during the Olympics? Maybe a few. But probably no more than watch dancesport. :?

Welcome to my world. Equestrian events are already IN the Olympics, but do you ever see them? Hell no, not unless you're up at two am watching Bravo.

I'm so gripey tonight, I better stop now before I go on a tangent about politics and blue noses and then begin speaking tongues when I get completely irrationally upset about Objectivity and Consistency- and .. oh, nevermind. I'm taking a benadryl and going horizontal for awhile.

In NZ the play everything live and Equestrain is shown in prime time. Mainly bc its one of the events NZ tends to medal in.

Well, I just checked and skydiving is in the vote lead on the site ... I have to wonder how Olympic skydiving would be judged!

How in the heck d'ye judge skydiving? LOL

Yeah, New Zealand and Germany KILL the US each year in three-day and Dressage... then the Canadians turn around and blow us off the course in showjumping!

I root for the US and all, but a good horse/rider team is just that, and a pleasure to watch, no matter where from.

Our Chef d'Equipe, Mr. George Morris is quite a stickler about precision and perfection though, so we just MIGHT have a chance here this time. I hope so!

I can't imagine that judging is the main problem. Look at the gymnastic. Someone does a routine, and then we hear "that's 9.783", without being given any information how that score came about. The same goes for diving or synchronized swimming, or dressage as for that.

I think the main "problem" with ballroom dancing is that it is not seen as a sport by the majority of the public. One actual problem i see is that the winner is known before it starts. This is not due to corrupt judging in my opinion, but due to the lack of high-risk maneuvers you see in any other judged sport. It is inconceivable for Chris and Hazel to come anywhere other than 1st or 2nd, unlike the diving where one messed up dive can take you out of the final...

Personally, I like watching field hockey. Different sports are popular in different regions of the world. The sports I object to most in the olympics are the shooting events, as they require no athletic ability and there appear to be 100s of them... but then again, i bet lots of people love the shooting events, just because i don't like them doesn't mean they should not be in the olympics.

I can't see the olympics doing any "damage" to dancesport. On the contrary it would give it a lot of exposure. The only danger would be if they changed the format to a system whereby only one couple dances at a time for more objective judging, however, this would then be a "showdance" comepetition, which is a different sport altogether.

Well, I did my bit. I voted for tug-o-war. There's a sport that would do well in the olympics. You don't need a judge or an explaination to figure out which team wins.

If it's team competition, it's probably on forming a variety of pretty patterns with the team member's bodies during the free-fall phase. Basically formation dancing with a rush of danger...

Ballroom dancing is in dead last with a paltry 6%! :shock: This is a disgrace. And you wonder why we can't get ballroom dance on TV? We can't even represent ourselves in a lousy poll.

Maybe the poll is getting help being linked from skydiving-forums, which I was surprised to NOT see in the Forum Plexus. :lol:

I don't think it's a disgrace at all - lots of dancers I know are voting against it (I tried to but it wasn't working). Wanting to promote ballroom dancing and wanting it in the olympics are two different things

It would be nice to have good dancing on TV. But I'm not interested in seeing dancing change itself only to get TV attention. TV stuff should either be a minor sideshow we can appreciate for its existence but ignore in its details, or it should show dancing as it is actually practiced. TV concerns shouldn't be allowed to influence how we dance - the pressure to be showy before existing competition audiences is already causing a lot of harm to the actual quality of dance training.

BTW, there's a tendancy to think that getting in the olympics would bring TV coverage. It might mean a tiny bit during the survey of unpopular sports segment, but the reality is that having a proven ability to get TV coverage is pretty much a prerequisite for being considered for addition to the olympics these days.

Hey. All I ever watch is the gymnastics. :wink: :lol:

I honestly don't think it should be included in the olympics. The olympics has too many events already. They should start dropping events in my opinion.

I don't know enough about the underlying issues to have a for or against opinion based on anything other than my gut. But, from what little I do know about the politics surrounding the IOC and the politics surrounding competitive ballroom dance, I'm guessing dancesport won't be added to the Olympics. We're talking clash of the titans, here. Just my opinion.

In gymnastics, I think the system is reasonably transparent. Each move has a score based on its difficulty level, and deductions are made for errors/imperfections.

Figure skating (especially ice dance, where you are not allowed to make acrobatic moves) is probably the closest sport to compare with ballroom dancing, and look at the controversy it always attracts, with the problem of subjective judging and consequent predictability of results, and the doubt over its "sporting" nature. Still, all these never stopped it becoming a regular olympic sport. Has it done figure skating/ice dance any good? Hard to say.