Sport Performance in Dance – A Systematic Review of the Methods Used in Physical Conditioning Training

Abstract

ABSTRACT. To assist academics and coaches to better understand dance and the training methods, a literature review of all pertinent articles was conducted. Although it has been proposed that dancers should add strength training into their regimen, many dance institutions are either hesitant to do so or lack the resources or knowledge necessary to do it. It has been suggested that dancers are hesitant to engage in strength training because they are concerned about muscular hypertrophy and the potential effects it may have on dance aesthetics. However, recent study has indicated that this might no longer be the case and that attitudes toward strength training are changing, especially among dance students and professionals. We conducted a search into multiple database (PubMed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect) to gather the most important research articles to achieve our purpose. Our key word for this search was: strength training, plyometric training, dancers, ballroom, resistance training. The inclusion criteria were as follows: healthy subjects (male or female) who participated in a type of supplementary training, articles no older than year of 2000. Exclusion criteria: ballet dancers, injury related articles, elderly participants.