Little Weird Reflections

When basketball fans see a basketball game, they would see something like an exciting match of athletes working together on two teams to shoot hoops and stuff like that. (excuse the horrible description, I know next to nothing about basketball).
But here's what I see: sweaty people running back and forth while patting dirty orange balls and throwing said dirty orange balls into plastic hoops with strings hanging off of it.
Yes, basketball is probably much more meaningful than what I just described, but imagine if aliens came and watched a game of basketball. That's probably what they'd see.
And then there's ballet. I personally like ballet much better than basketball, but anyway, ballet is full of grace and balance and strength and flexibility. (again, excuse the terrible description, as I know next to nothing about ballet as well).
If those aliens watched a ballet, though, what would they see? People with ridiculous amounts of makeup and hair products (yes, I know this is only to keep hair off the face and the heavy makeup is so the audience can see clearly) jumping and twirling around in shiny tights and lavish costumes, I suppose.

So why is it, exactly, that when we see a fun basketball match or a beautiful ballet performance, all we're really seeing is people sprinting back and forth like high-speed field plowers or extravagantly dressed people prancing around on a stage? It's almost kind of funny.