The Effects of Pilates Reformer Training on Ballet Dancers' Movement Stability and Lower Limbs Muscle Strength

• Main Authors: Hsu, Chiung-Hua, 許瓊華
• Other Authors: Shiang, Tzyy-Yuang, Ph.D.
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/71591886320333828298

碩士 === 臺北巿立體育學院 === 舞蹈碩士班 === 96 === The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects on the movement stability and lower limbs muscle strength in ballet dancers with six-week training on Pilates Reformer. This experiment was implemented on twenty high school dance major students, and they were divided into two groups, the control group and the experiment group. Each group was comprised of ten people and was given training twice a week for six weeks. Each training session consisted of twenty-five minutes of ballet exercises hold the barre for the control group, and twenty-five minutes of exercises on the Pilates Reformer for the experiment group. Each subject was tested with sauté, changement de pieds, and grand jeté before and after the twenty-five minutes of training session. The process was recorded on a DV camera, then all the visual information, including sauté side angle, changement de pieds side angle, grand jeté vertical distance, and grand jeté horizontal straight distance, was analyzed by Silicon Coach to get the average parameter of the samples. Paired t-tests and Independence t-test were used to compare the variables within and between groups. The experiment revealed that the experiment group showed better performance on sauté side angle by 37% (p＜.05); and the control group only improved by 7%. The experiment group achieved improvement on changement de pieds side angle by 32% (p＜.05), which is a much greater improvement in comparison with the control group’s 2% improvement. Both experiment group and control group had significant improvement on sauté (p＜.05). The experiment group achieved improvement on sauté by 11%, and the control group improved by 9%. However, in changement de pieds, the experiment group improved by 9% (p＜.05), whereas the control group decreased by 0.4%. In grand jeté vertical distance, the experiment group improved 3% (p＜.05); but the control group decreased by 1%. In grand jeté horizontal straight distance, the experiment improved by 5%; contrarily the control group decreased by 7%. Both groups failed to achieve (p＞.05). This research came to a conclusion that Pilates reformer training can effectively enhance ballet dancers’ core muscle group and increase their body stability and lower limbs muscle strength. The result of this research hopes to provide dance educators with different training methods. Through Pilates Reformer exercises, dancers are able to develop a clear understanding of their bodies and benefit their learning, so as to refine their dance techniques.