Football as ballet: 11 surprisingly graceful images from the Super Bowl

(Image credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Go beyond the bone-crunching tackles and you'll see that football is actually one of America's most elegant sports. In brightly colored, body-baring costumes, exceptionally sure-footed athletes almost resemble dancers as they soar over opponents, reeling in spiraling balls with outstretched arms and seemingly magnetic fingertips, touching down on the sidelines only to implausibly drag their toes across the turf before the rest of their body falls out of bounds. Behold, the hidden ballet of Super Bowl XLVII.

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Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.

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