PhD A.B. Uspuriene¹
PhD, Associate Professor S. Sniras^1
1Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania

It is a common knowledge that the dance sport elite demonstrates certain physical fitness and body composition standards, with the latter interpreted by most specialists as body anthropometric charcateristics and body element masses. Since dances appeal to the feel of beauty and aesthetics standards of the viewers, the body lines and compositions are critically important for success in this sport. It is commonly believed that the tall dancers with a thin subcutaneous adipose tissue and long limbs have the best chances for success being aesthetically superior. Since the performance in dancing sport is scored by judges visually, it is only natural that the body composition rates are closely linked to the competitive success rates. Objective of the study was to find correlations of the body compositions with the competitive progress rates in youth dancing sport. Sampled for the study were junior (12-13 year old) dancers (n=112, including 62 females and 50 males), with boys and girls aged 12.67±0.72 and 12.59±0.89 years, respectively. The sample was tested to find the body length (cm), body mass (kg), body mass index (BMI) (kg / m2); body fat rate (%); absolute fat mass (kg); lean mass (kg); and the body fluid mass (kg). The technical performance was rated in friendly competitions by 3-6 points. The body composition rates were found meaningfully gender-specific (р<0.05) in the body fat, lean mass and body fluid mass rates. We found inverse correlations indicative of the smaller body mass rates facilitating the competitive successes. In the female subsample, the average correlation between the competitive success rates in the standard/ Latin dances (SD and LD) and the body fat rates (%) was (r = -0.63, p <0.001; r = -0.58, p <0.001) and with the body fat mass (kg) was (r = -0.69, p <0.001; r = -0.65, p <0.001). The study data and analyses made it possible to find the optimal body composition rates for the 12-13 year old dancers.

Keywords: body mass, body fat mass, competitive success rates, dance sport.

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