Motion Analysis

AS-0150
BALLET DANCERS OF DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS PERFORM SAUTÉ JUMPS WITH DIFFERENT HIP ROTATION
Debora Cantergi 1,*Andreja Picon 2Carolina Rodes 2Jefferson Loss 1Isabel Sacco 2
1Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 2University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Introduction and Objectives: The sauté is one of the first jumps a child learns in ballet class and the basis for other jumps
in ballet. The sauté jump takes off and lands on both feet, and may be performed in all five ballet positions [1], which
require the dancer to laterally rotate the lower limbs (turnout) [2]. While this is common in all ballet methods, the
methodology used for teaching the sauté depends on the teachers’ background [3]. Most ballet methods are empirical. At
least one method, the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), has developed a pedagogical progression in the study of ballet.
This study aimed to evaluate the 3D kinematic characteristics of the ankle, knee and hip joints during the performance of
sauté movement in first position by ballet dancers trained in empirical and RAD methods.
Methods: Eighteen elite ballerinas (9 from RAD and 9 from empirical method) performed 2 series of 8 sauté movements
with classical music and the 6 central movements were analyzed. 3D kinematic data of hip, knee and ankle joint of the left
lower limb were acquired by 6 IR cameras (OptiTrack FLEX: V100, Natural Point). An AMTI force plate was used to
identify the contact and aerial phases of sauté. Kinematic trajectories were processed by low-pass 4th order Butterworth
filter, cut-off frequency of 6 Hz (Visual 3D, CMotion). A sauté starts when the dancer leaves the force plate until the end of
the next aerial phase (aerial phase + landing + full bending of the knees + push off until take off). Maximum and minimum
joint angles and the range of motion (ROM) of all joints in 3 planes of motion were compared between groups using t-tests
(p<0.05).
Results: Difference was found between hip ROM on the transversal plane (rotation), where the RAD group presented a
greater ROM than the empirical group. No differences were found between RAD and empirical methods in ROM and
maximum and minimum joint angles in all other planes (table 1, figure 1). Shippen showed that the lateral rotation of each
joint is not constant while maintaining the same summed turnout in the whole lower limb during the performance of the
demi-plié [4]. In a qualitative analysis of the time series of our results, we observed a similar kinematic pattern in the
transverse plane during both contact (demi-plié) and aerial phases of the sauté. This qualitative analysis in addition to the
observed difference between the methods in the hip ROM in the transverse plane, suggests that the perceived change in
the lateral rotation happens in both movement phases in sauté. When the dancer is in contact with the floor, she can use
the contact forces to manage her turnout, but in the aerial phase, it was expected that only the hip would perform lateral
rotation, what did not happened. The RAD group had a significantly higher ROM than the empirical group, mainly when
the dancers were in contact with the floor. It is possible that the RAD dancers had used the contact forces in order to
enhance their natural lateral rotation.

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Figure:

Caption: Mean range of motion of all dancers in empirical (red) and RAD (blue) groups. Positive values represent ankle
and hip flexion, knee extension, ankle, knee and hip abduction and ankle, knee and hip lateral rotation. The contact phase
goes from 45 to 100%.
Conclusion: Dancers trained in the RAD method perform the sauté with higher hip ROM in the transverse plane compared
to dancers trained in empiric methods, suggesting that the use of a pedagogical method for teaching ballet may influence
the turnout position when performing the sauté movement.
Table:
Sagittal plane Frontal plane Horizontal plane
Empirical RAD p Empirical RAD p Empirical RAD p
Mean±SD Mean±SD Mean±SD Mean±SD Mean±SD Mean±SD
A max 103.0±5.8 102.2±6.4 0.74 20.9±9.1 16.6±13.2 0.31 24.1±6.5 24.2±13.4 0.98
A min 19.8±6.0 20.4±5.3 0.79 -4.8±4.3 -7.6±12.2 0.42 5.2±4.1 4.7±15.5 0.91
A 83.0±7.7 81.6±4.4 0.55 25.6±6.9 24.0±8.3 0.57 19.1±7.5 19.5±7.4 0.90
ROM
K max 7.3±7.6 4.9±6.7 0.36 1.5±2.2 5.4±7.6 0.06 22.0±3.3 22.4±6.4 0.84
K min -51.4±5.9 -52.6±8.3 0.65 -8.7±3.9 -6.1±4.5 0.10 7.3±4.9 7.2±7.7 0.98
K 58.4±6.3 57.7±6.6 0.78 10.1±3.6 11.5±6.4 0.49 14.8±3.4 15.6±2.4 0.45
ROM
H max 23.2±9.6 27.0±7.4 0.22 12.6±2.8 13.1±5.9 0.78 35.8±8.8 39.6±10.1 0.28
H min 0.4±9.0 3.6±7.0 0.27 0.4±3.2 0.4±3.7 0.99 26.2±8.3 26.8±9.2 0.84
H 22.8±4.2 23.2±3.7 0.76 12.2±2.7 12.9±4.4 0.60 9.8±2.2 12.6±3.7 0.02
ROM

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Caption: Mean and standard deviation of maximum (max), minimum (min) and ROM (degrees) of each joint in all 3 planes
of movement in ankle (A), knee (K) and hip (H), of each group of ballet dancer and the p-values of comparisons between
groups.
References: [1] Ryman, RS. Dictionary of classical ballet terminology. Royal Academy of Dancing, 1996.
[2] Hamilton, D. Br J Sport Med. 40(4):299-303, 2006. [3] Wilmerding, M, et al. J Dance Med Sci 5(3):69-74, 2001.
[4] Shippen, J. Arts Biomechanics 1(1):33-43, 2011.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared

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