Assessment of body balance in female bharathanatyam dancers

Background: Bharathanatyam is an Indian classical dance form which involves rhythmic dance movements. There are various postures in this dance form to attain which dancers need optimum muscle strength and adequate range of motion at required joints. Dancers need good body balance to maintain these postures. Dancers also have to maintain balance while movements and changing postures. Objective: To assess and compare static and dynamic balance in female bharathanatyam dancers and nondancers. Methods: 32 dancers and 33 nondancers were randomly selected from various Bharathanatyam dance schools and general population in Bengaluru respectively. Height, weight, BMI and lower limb length were measured. Static balance was assessed by balance error scoring system. Dynamic balance was assessed by star excursion balance test. Data was analysed and presented as Mean±standard deviation. Results: The independent sample t test was applied for statistical analysis. P<0.05 was considered significant. Dancers performed fewer errors than nondancers (P<0.001). Dancers had lower reach distances with both right and left legs compared to nondancers (P<0.001). Conclusion: This study showed that dancers had superior static balance and inferior dynamic balance compared to nondancers.