If ballet were an Olympic sport

[mussel]

What would be the impact on the art form?

How many and what category - women, men, junior, senior, and women/men pdd ? Would there be a chorus category and the number of chorus? 16, 24, 32?

Would established stars bother to enter the competition?

What would be the judging criteria?

What countries can rival Russia in medal count?

I assume it would make ballet much more popular, tickets would be more difficult to get and more expensive. But there would be more performances, the ballet seasons longer.

[Kerry1968]

"Beauty is paramount. One mustn’t mix sport with ballet."

[sandik]

I've always thought that competitions like Varna and Jackson served as the Olympics for ballet. I think it's far more likely we'll see competition ballroom dancing in an Olympics before we'd see ballet.

[YouOverThere]

I think that it might encourage dancers to concentrate more on eye-catching athletic stunts rather than on artistic interpretation (I've never found Olympic figure skating to be impressive in any artistic sense). I also imagine that there would quite a lot of disputes about the judging, as judges from different styles would likely tend to favor dancers from their style.

I personally don't care who the best dancer in the world is, just as I don't care who the best musician in the world is. I only care whether I experience something from watching them perform. Good enough is good enough.

[Stage Right]

Oh, please no Olympic status for ballet!!!!!

[Kerry1968]

What countries can rival Russia in medal count?

Korea, China, and Japan, if one goes by what is happening at the international ballet competitions.