Effects of expertise and auditory guidance on traditional dance performance

This study investigated how the dancer's level of expertise and the type of auditory guidance provided influence the kinematic profile of the lower limbs during traditional dance performance. Ten experts in traditional Greek dance (age: 25±3.29 years, five males and five females) and eleven novice participants (age: 26.45±3.88 years, six males and five females), all Greek natives, performed a series of Greek and Irish dance steps with auditory guidance of the metrics (verbal counting) and the music of the respective dances. An electromagnetic tracking system sampled (at 100 Hz) the angular displacement of the two lower legs about the Mediolateral axis during dance performance. Segment rotations were analyzed in the time and frequency domain. Expert dancers displayed significantly lower variability of lower leg rotation and stronger interlimb coupling when compared to novice performers. In novice performers, the power of the lower limb angular displacement extended to higher frequencies when dance performance was guided by music compared to metrical guidance. The addition of music and the origin of the dance interfered with performance for novices but not experienced dancers. Kinematic analysis of the lower limbs may open a new window for the investigation of learning and auditory guidance effects on dance performance.