Static Balancing Ability and Lower Body Kinematics Examination of Hungarian Folk Dancers: A Pilot Study Investigating the “Kalocsai Mars” Dance Sequence

Adaptive Adjustments in Lower Limb Muscle Coordination during Single-Leg Landing Tasks in Latin Dancers

Previous research has primarily focused on evaluating the activity of individual muscles in dancers, often neglecting their synergistic interactions. Investigating the differences in lower limb muscle synergy during landing between dancers and healthy controls will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of their neuromuscular control patterns. This study enrolled 22 Latin dancers and 22 healthy participants, who performed a task involving landing from a 30 cm high platform. The data were collected using Vicon systems, force plates, and electromyography (EMG). The processed EMG data were subjected to non-negative matrix factorization (NNMF) for decomposition, followed by classification using K-means clustering algorithm and Pearson correlation coefficients. Three synergies were extracted for both Latin dancers and healthy participants. Synergy 1 showed increased contributions from the tibialis anterior (p < 0.001) and medial gastrocnemius (p = 0.024) in Latin dancers compared to healthy participants. Synergy 3 highlighted significantly greater contributions from the vastus lateralis in healthy participants compared to Latin dancers (p = 0.039). This study demonstrates that Latin dancers exhibit muscle synergies similar to those observed in healthy controls, revealing specific adjustments in the tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius muscles among dancers. This research illustrates how dancers optimize control strategies during landing tasks, offering a novel perspective for comprehensively understanding dancers' neuromuscular control patterns.

The Association of Gender and Body Mass Index on the Values of Static and Dynamic Balance of University Students (A Cross-Sectional Design Study)

The balance of the body conditions the quality and efficiency of the movements in daily and sports activities, its impairment generating problems in the manifestation of motor skills for all age groups. The aim of this study is to analyze how the gender and BMI values of university students influence the results of the static and dynamic balance tests applied. The investigated group consists of 195 undergraduate students, from various specializations of the Dunărea de Jos University in Galați (99 males and 96 females, ages = 20.16 ± 1.98, BMI = 24.15 ± 5.68). The independent variables gender and BMI levels (underweight, normal weight and overweight/obese) were defined. The participants were evaluated in May 2019 using a series of 7 tests: one leg standing test with eyes closed, stork test, flamingo test, Bass test, functional reach test, walk and turn field sobriety test and Fukuda test. The results provided using multivariate analysis (MANOVA) indicate balanced performance for the gender variable, but with significantly better values for women in the one leg standing test, flamingo test and functional reach test (F values are associated with thresholds p < 0.05). Men obtain slightly better, but statistically insignificant (p > 0.05), performances on the stork test, Bass test and Fukuda test. The BMI step comparison confirms the difficulties of the overweight group in assessing balance, with the lowest scores in maintaining static positions and the most errors in dynamic balance tests, with significant differences from normal and underweight in most tests (p < 0.05). An interesting aspect is the slightly superior performance of the underweight compared to the normal weight group, for the one leg standing test, flamingo test and walk and turn field sobriety test. The analysis of Spearman correlation coefficients indicates a number of significant associations between elevated BMI values and decreased performance on balance tests.

Methodology of 3D Scanning of Intangible Cultural Heritage—The Example of Lazgi Dance

Traditional dance is one of the key elements of Intangible Culture Heritage (ICH). Many scientific papers concern analysis of dance sequences, classification and recognition of movements, making ICH data public, creating and visualising 3D models or software solutions for learning folklore dances. These works make it possible to preserve this disappearing art. The aim of this article is to propose a methodology for scanning folklore dances. The methodology was developed on the basis of capturing 3D data via an optical motion capture system with a full body Plug-in Gait model that allows for kinematic and kinetic analysis of motion sequences. An additional element of this research was the development of a hand model with which it is possible to precisely analyse the fingers, which play a significant role in many dances. The present methodology was verified on the basis of the Lazgi dance, included in the UNESCO ICH list. The obtained results of movement biomechanics for the dance sequence and the angles of the fingers indicate that it is universal and can be applied to dances that involve the upper and lower body parts, including hand movements.