THE SPORT DANCE ATHLETE: AEROBIC-ANAEROBIC CAPACITIES AND KINEMATICS TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE

Introduction. Little is known about the relationship between physiological and biomechanical parameters of sport dancers. Partners’ body contact and posture are important to achieve top results. Knowledge of the links between these aspects could be of help for couples’ matching and for improving the dance technique through the assessment of relevant parameters. Aim of the study. In our study compared with the few previous studies, we found that age and VO2max of the dancers increased from earlier studies, while body height and weight remains similar over the years. Material and methods. Data on hip alignment, knee kinematics, VO2max, Anaerobic Threshold and Lactate on top level couples were compared with amateur athletes showing that the discriminator factor is the hip kinematics and that no differences exists in physiological parameters. Results and conclusions. While we found a difference in VO2max between males and females, we didn’t find any statistically significant correlation between the athlete position in the world ranking and VO2max, anaerobic threshold and lactate production. VO2max and lactate of nowadays top level dancers are higher than in the past, due to increases in athletic training. Knee kinematics are described for Quickstep, Slow Waltz, Tango, Slow Foxtrot and Viennese Waltz showing great differences in lower limbs action and thus in energy requirements. In conclusion, technical skills are confirmed to be the main influencer of the performance albeit a certain degree of fitness is necessary to sustain long training and competition sessions.