Abstract
Folk dance is a collection of traditional dances that requires years of practicing to perform correctly. The aim of the present study was to develop a complex biomechanical measurement procedure that investigated Hungarian folk dancers’ balancing ability and lower body kinematics through a dance movement called “Kalocsai mars”. Therefore, 11 dancers’ motion (5 female and 6 male; age: 20.5 ± 2.5 years; height: 173.82 ± 7.82 cm; weight: 64.77 ± 8.67 kg) was recorded with an optical-based motion capture system and force platforms simultaneously. Before and after the dancing session, static balancing tests were performed, examining bipedal stance with eyes opened and closed conditions. The ANOVA results showed that the values of the range of motions of the knee joint flexion-extension angles and hip flexion averaged for sessions increased significantly (p=0.044, p=0.003, p=0.005) during the dancing sessions. The deviation in the joint angle was greater in the nondominant legs, suggesting that the nondominant side requires more attention to execute the dance steps correctly. The results of the balance tests showed that the oscillation in the posterior direction increased significantly after dancing (p=0.023). In comparison, the visual feedback had no significant effect on the dancers’ balancing ability.
Highlights
Hungarian folk dance is a collection of traditional dances that originated in the Carpathian Basin
The numeric data of the calculated angular and kinetic parameters are detailed in Supplementary Material S4; the numeric results of the analysis of variance an the post-hoc analysis are detailed in Supplementary Materials S1 and S3, respectively
Since the two-factor analysis of variance investigated the effect of time and visual effect (EO and eyes closed (EC)) simultaneously, Figure 4 shows their impact on the balancing ability separately
Summary
Hungarian folk dance is a collection of traditional dances that originated in the Carpathian Basin. As a result of the regulation procedure, regionally danced forms were categorized into different folk dance styles. These regional folk dance styles have strict dance sequences, and many of them require years of practice to be performed correctly. The most dangerous elements for the joints are the leg slamming elements, because they can cause cartilage wear [3,4]. Such folk steps, when the legs are placed forcefully onto the floor, are similar to some steps of Irish folk dances, which have been examined previously from a biomechanical point of view [5]
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