Energy Expenditure in Professional Dance Sport
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Embargoed until: 5555-01-01
Reason: Publisher does not permit archiving
Volume
20
Pagination
162 - 167
Publisher
DOI
10.12678/1089-313X.20.4.168
Journal
Journal of Dance Medicine && Science
Issue
ISSN
1089-313X
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The aim of the present study was to determine the intensity of each Standard and Latin-American dance in relation to the values of maximal oxygen uptake assessed by a dance-specific protocol. A total of 12 professional dancers (six couples: three Standard and three Latin-American; ranging in age from 18 to 29 years; six males and six females) were recruited from the Italian Dance Sport Federation. To measure energy expenditure, each couple performed progressively demanding routine dance sequences. Each sequence lasted for 1 minute and 30 seconds and was specific to each dance of the respective discipline (Standard and Latin-American) in terms of tempo and choreography. The energy consumption of the dancers was measured during the last 30 seconds of each dance and the total energy expenditure calculated. Recovery between dance sequences was reached when the oxygen consumption returned to near resting values. To assess the maximal oxygen uptake, an incremental dance-specific test was used. This test consisted of uninterrupted performance of the five dances specific to each dance of the respective discipline. Parametric techniques were used to detect significant differences in metabolic energy required between dances and genders. The alpha level of significance was set at p < 0.05. The metabolic energy required to perform the individual dances was maximal or greater than maximal in almost all specialties of DanceSport, except for male and female Standard in the English waltz and Latin-American females in the rumba. The energy expenditure measured during the last 30 seconds of each dance underestimated the metabolic energy requirement by 15% to 32% in Standard dances and 35% to 42% in Latin-American dances (p < 0.05).