Luka's Arts In NYC

I was sitting watching a game of basketball the other week and started thinking, is basketball an art form? In my opinion it is. When i watch it some of the plays are so beautiful. The dribble moves, the cross overs, in between the legs, spin moves, post moves, all seem as much art as a dance move is to me. The dunks and the shots is almost like watching people doing back flips in dancing. I think basketball is almost a form of interpretive dance. And when someone performs some of the moves the players in this game perform they are not described in any other way other than aesthetically beautiful. There is constant conversation between two players and between two teams. And the audience almost becomes the score of the piece.

Now some would argue that this is wrong for several reasons. One of these reasons is that it has rules. Basketball has strict guidelines that you have to follow or else you get punished for them. But to me these rules are the same thing in art as following a style. When you draw cartoons,for example, you follow a certain style. Obviously a lot of cartooning differs from one another, but they do follow basic similarities. Same with singers. When you are a singer in an opera you follow your certain pitch, whether it be tenor, soprano, bass, etc. In basketball each players style also differs even with the rules. For example, Lebron James has a very pass oriented game. he doesn’t want his own shot unless he has to. he is also an extremely fast and athletic player so he drives into the lane a lot more, whereas Ray Allen is more of a shooter, working off of screens to make the three point shot as much as possible. he doesn’t have the ball in his hand a lot.

Another argument might be that it doesn’t look to convey a message. Often art looks to convey a message or deeper meaning behind it that is up for interpretation. I think basketball does do this as well. As a sport in general it tries to convey the message of teamwork and competition. it tries to convey the idea that one cannot succeed without teamwork, and the idea that you are always competing against someone in the end. I also think it conveys the idea of unpredictability. That you never know what life will throw at you. And this is shown in basketball through injuries, upsets and who ends up being in the finals.

In conclusion, i think basketball is a form of art because it is a form of entertainment that engages an audience and is aesthetically pleasing and stimulating to a certain sense.