This chapter aims to present different assessment methods in biomechanics applied to the dance field. The chapter begins by clarifying some biomechanical concepts to enhance understanding. Thus, the advantages and disadvantages of tests such as dynamic, kinematic, electromyographic, and inverse dynamic analysis will be discussed to provide information to dance professionals use in the field. At the end of the chapter, professionals who work with dancers may choose the most suitable test for the desired evaluation of their students and the equipment that can better fit into the dance school/studio infrastructure and budget.
TopIntroduction
Intending to improve dance technique or decrease injury risks, dancers and dance teachers should resort to biomechanics research knowledge. Understanding the theoretical movement basis is essential to excel in movements and routines. Biomechanical assessments can involve analyses of the forces acting in the human body, directly contributing to dance technique's improvement and physical and artistic demand (Wilson, 2009). Nevertheless, most dance professionals do not know exactly how the knowledge was built and the primary purpose of each equipment or biomechanics variables.
Before discussing different equipment and research methods that can improve dancers' performance, some knowledge about biomechanics and its different areas is necessary. The tests' choice to assess dancers' physical fitness components or the variables that can affect performance and help injury prevention is based on this knowledge. Although the in-depth knowledge about biomechanics tests goes beyond dance teachers' scope, a superficial notion about biomechanics is necessary to supervise and support their students.
Biomechanics can be defined 'as the science, derived from the natural sciences, which deals with the physical analyses of biological systems' (Amadio & Serrão, 2007). Due to its complexity, it is possible to find different Biomechanics definitions. Nevertheless, most of them have in common the use of physics concepts, mainly the mechanics, to explain human movements (Hall, 2014; Knudson, 2007). Thus, biomechanics concepts are used to understand better the forces acting in a body or the forces generated within it and how they act on different materials (European Society of Biomechanics).
Human movement studies can present different models distinctly analysed by different areas of Biomechanics: kinetics, kinematics, muscle modelling, and inverse dynamics. Kinematics is defined as the study of the size, sequencing, and chronology of motion, not referencing the forces that cause or result from it (Hall, 2014). Through kinematics studies, it is possible to determine movement patterns and specific technical gestures. On the other hand, kinetics is the study of forces associated with the movement, both the force that causes the movement and the forces that result from it, such as impact forces, for example (Hall, 2014). Muscle modelling is defined as the study of muscle activation and its responses to different loads and predicting the whole muscle force production (Perreault, 2009) (Figure 1).
Moreover, inverse dynamics is the specialised mechanic field that connects the two different areas of movement analysis: kinematics and kinetics (Robertson et al., 2014). With the combination of kinematic analysis obtained through cameras and kinetics analysis such as the force data obtained through force platforms, for example, it is possible to indirectly determine the moment of force of different body segments (Whittlesey & Robertson, 2014), or the forces acting internally in dancers' body. Inverse dynamics is vital because a direct measurement in these segments need invasive techniques that, in most situations, are not applicable in daily practice.
Figure 1. Source: Adapted from Hamill et al., 2015 After this brief review of biomechanics areas, the following sections will present information about the different equipment, the research methods and how they could be used during dancing studies. Also, the positive and negative aspects of each will be discussed according to the aim of each analysis. Various studies using these different techniques will be presented to better understand how this knowledge can favour dancers during each section. For example, dance professionals must be aware of the strength and flexibility levels required to reach desirable height and range of motion in a specific movement, among other possible practical applications in a dance context.