Joint range of motion and balance in modern Turkish folk dancers‘The fire of Anatolia example’

ABSTRACT

Modern folk dancers are required to maintain their coordination and motoric individuality in peak condition in order to not have difficulty in performance and also stay at the highest level aesthetically. The purpose of this study is to investigate the joint range of motion (JROM), flexibility and balance level which are very important for the performance of the female and male modern Turkish folk dancers. This study was performed with 40 dancers who consist of 20 female dancers (21.70 ± 3.61 years), 20 male dancers (22.10 ± 3.14 years) out of 150 dancers who are in a professional modern Turkish folk dance group called Fire of Anatolia. In this research, eight joint range of motion and trunk-lower limb flexibility were measured. Eyes opened-closed single leg balance tests were also applied. Consequently, it was found that the measurement of flexion-extension of the hip joint (U: 106-Z: -2.55 - p = 0.011), adduction-abduction of the hip joint (U: 65-Z: -3.65-p = 0.000) and plantar-dorsal flexion of the ankle joint (U: 68-Z: -3.58 - p = 0.000) was higher for the benefit of a female dancer and there is no significant difference amongst general flexibility and eyes opened-closed balance abilities in female/male participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Modern folk dances
• Fire of Anatolia
• joint range of motion
• flexibility
• balance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Özgür Özdemir received PhD degree titled ‘Sports İnjury of Beach Handball Athletes during World Championship’ from the Institute of Health Sciences of Akdeniz University. He worked for the Sport Sciences Research and Application Center. He is currently working at the Faculty of Sport Sciences, Akdeniz University. Areas of interest are Therapeutic recreation, complementary therapies (Thai Massage, Tai Chi, Qi Gong), injury prevention, health for athletes, sports massage, kinesiology, fitness, elderly and patient reconditioning exercises, and performance analysis. He served as a health supporter and sports masseur in Turkish Handball and Archery National Teams. He has published many articles in national and international journals and presented in scientific congresses.

Gizem Yıldırım works as a dancer at the State Ensemble of Folk Dances, Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Ankara. She graduated from Coaching Education Department of Faculty of Sport Sciences at Akdeniz University. He worked as a dancer at the Fire of Anatolia for a long time.

Supplementary material

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