369 © Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v. v. i., Praha 2019 Performing on the Boundary of Art and Sport: The Case of Competitive Ballroom Dancers DOMINIKA BYCZKOWSKA-OWCZAREK* University of Lodz Abstract: In this article the author sheds light on how dancers act towards their bodies in the exceptionally competitive environment of competitive ballroom dancing. I also show how constantly performing on the boundary between two worlds, art and sport, and reconciling conficting requirements infuences perspectives on the body, how it is used, and how it physically changes. Draw- ing on specifc examples from the feld, the author argues that competition, the use of objects, appearance, emotions, and charisma during a ballroom per- formance are all socially created, actively reconstructed through social inter- action, and shaped by institutional rules. The social context of those actions, which is formed by institutionalisation, high competition, and the aesthetics of the upper social classes, produces a specifc approach to the body: treating it as an effcient tool to obtain social status. This tool requires both sharpen- ing (strategies for constructing its effectiveness) and polishing (strategies con- cerned with aesthetics and transforming one’s appearance). The conclusions of the research include the fnding that ballroom dancing involves the direct embodiment of cultural norms and the subordination of the human body to the ideas of the bourgeois classes. The above insights are based on data col- lected during a six-year ethnographic study in the social subworld of competi- tive ballroom dancing. Keywords: ballroom dance, sport-sociological perspective, body, institution- alised competition, social aspects of leisure Sociologický časopis/Czech Sociological Review, 2019, Vol. 55, No. 3: 369–392 https://doi.org/10.13060/00380288.2019.55.3.471 Introduction Sociological interest in dance has so far concentrated on studying such genres as ballet, tango, exotic dance, modern dance, and traditional folk dances from all over the world. Ballet, in particular, is a very well-researched area of sociological interest. There have been numerous types of research investigating the balletic world, from the socialisation of ballet children [Nelson 2001] to research on ballet careers and numerous studies on retiring dancers and teachers [Daly 1997; Dietz * Direct all correspondence to: Dominika Byczkowska-Owczarek, Department of Sociolo- gy of Organization and Management, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Lodz, Poland, e-mail: byczkowska.owczarek@uni.lodz.pl.