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Frequency of Upper Body Muscular Demands in Contemporary and Ballet Dance Performance: A Cross Sectional Performance
Claire Farmer1, James Brouner2
1School of Arts, Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, Middlesex University, London, UK.
Summary
Contemporary dancers utilize upper body strength more frequently than ballet dancers, particularly in weight-bearing and assisted lifts. This highlights the need for specialized training programs to address the distinct biomechanical demands in dance genres.
Area of Science:
- Dance Science
- Biomechanics
- Kinesiology
Background:
- Limited research exists on upper body muscular strength and endurance demands in dance, including lifts and inversions.
- Understanding these demands is crucial for designing effective training programs to enhance dancers' physical tolerance.
- This study addresses the gap by analyzing upper body skill frequency in ballet and contemporary dance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the frequency of upper body muscular skills in contemporary and ballet dance performances.
- To compare the frequency of these skills between dance genres and sexes.
- To inform the design of dance-specific training regimens.
Main Methods:
- Observational analysis of 46 ballet and 44 contemporary dancers across 12 performances each.
- Upper body skills were recorded using Dartfish Easytag-Note software.
- Data analyzed for frequency per minute and per performance, with statistical comparisons between genres and sexes (Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon signed rank test).
Main Results:
- Contemporary dance featured significantly higher frequencies of holding own weight compared to ballet (8.50 vs. 1.51 mean frequency per performance).
- Male contemporary dancers performed significantly more above-shoulder assisted lifts than male ballet dancers (9.82 vs. 2.33 mean frequency per performance).
- Below-shoulder lifts were more frequent than above-shoulder lifts, with most above-shoulder lifts occurring at eye level.
Conclusions:
- Contemporary dance places greater demands on upper body weight-bearing and assisted lifting compared to ballet.
- Training programs should be tailored to the specific biomechanical requirements of different dance genres.
- Consideration of lifts at various heights and inversions is essential for comprehensive dancer conditioning.
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