By Bailey Shoemaker Richards

In mid-March, I entered what initially seemed like it could easily have become a nightmare: I went to Disney World as a chaperon for my sister’s high school dance team. Dance teams, like cheerleaders, tend to have a Mean Girls reputation, and I was nervous about hanging out with a group of girls who might fit that mold. Despite that, it turned out that my worries about being surrounded by high school dancers were relatively unfounded.

In fact, one of my biggest disappointments ended up being the lack of attendance at the AmeriDance/AmeriCheer competition, which, I am proud to say, my sister’s team performed exceedingly well – they were the Grand Champions of the dance competition, and brought home trophies for their kick and pom-pom, or “pom,” routines.

Hosted at the ESPN World of Sports Center in Orlando, the auditorium was huge – and largely empty. Most people, including my sister’s high school, don’t consider dance to be a sport: although the girls engage in extensive stretching, running, training and hours upon hours of practicing and exercising that would leave conditioned football players out of breath. Even the football water boy gets a letterman’s jacket. The girls get nothing, even when they bring home trophies and medals.

Dance is a coordinated and elegant sport, largely dominated by women, which may account for its lack of formal attention and praise from sports fans. It’s too pretty to be demanding, too controlled to be competitive, and too girly to be a “real” sport. However, the athleticism and control – and team spirit – displayed by teams from across the globe was very reminiscent of my high school tennis days. Although dancing doesn’t look like a challenging sport, the coordination, strength and flexibility required to perform choreographed movements in a large group requires an enormous amount of dedication, and isn’t without physical risks; a number of girls walked off the dance floor after their routines and had to ice their backs, knees or ankles.

One incredibly encouraging aspect of the dance competition was the fact that there were youth segments – girls of about 10 and under – dancing in age-appropriate costumes. Unlike the unnecessarily adult and sexualized costumes featured on shows like Toddlers & Tiaras, the performers at AmeriDance were dancing their hearts out while wearing tiered tutu skirts over their leotards and tights; one very young solo performer from Ireland danced to Shirley Temple in an adorable knee-length dress. They were stellar dancers for their age bracket, and they were allowed to dance as children. There was no need to make them look like miniature adults, and the joy they found in their performance was evident.

Even the older girls avoided sexualizing themselves for the judges’ eyes, an encouraging rebuff to the judge who once told a member of my sister’s team, after a non-competitive showcase performance, that he would have marked them down for not showing enough skin. Many of the teams utilized more creative routes for their costumes– a team from Ireland started their pom routine to Phantom of the Opera while wearing capes.

The cattiness that I anticipated was also missing from the AmeriDance event. Teams from Colombia, Ireland and across the United States enthusiastically applauded one another’s performances and the dancers complimented each other as the teams left the auditorium after the competition ended. All of the teams sat and watched the performance when they weren’t on stage, and my sister’s team was a remarkably cohesive and positive group throughout the entire trip.

I got on the plane to Disney World expecting to leave the AmeriDance competition feeling overwhelmed by girl hate, but I left feeling a profound sense of pride in all the girls I interacted with. Team sports — even those that have a reputation for encouraging negative behaviors and attitudes — allow young women to engage with one another and build deep, supportive bonds. The benefits of sports for kids are widely trumpeted, and after the time I spent with the dance teams in Florida, dance should absolutely be added to the list of sports kids are encouraged to try out.