Composición corporal de bailarines adolescentes de la Escuela Nacional de Ballet de Cuba

In aesthetic or visual activities, like Ballet and Dancing, subjective judging is a measure of performance. As we know a dancer success may depend on the amount of muscle relative to body mass, and the excess of fat is a disadvantage on ballet performance. To study the body composition, body muscle and fat mass of ballet dancers is very important to control their health and performance, due to the intensive training of this artistic activity. The purpose was analyze the changes of the body composition of dancers from the Cuban National Ballet School in different moments of their physical training. A group of 27 female and 13 male adolescent ballet dancers were measured every 3 months during a period of two years. Their ages ranged between 15 and 19 years. An anthropometric protocol of 13 measurements was applied in order to determine the body composition, body muscle and fat mass, using the Ross and Kerr method. Results showed that males were always taller than females, but both increased their median stature at least 2.0 cm during this period. The elite group of female dancers changed their fat percent according to the intensity of training periods, while average group didn�t do it. The male dancers show a linear tendency for fat percent in a narrow interval. The variations of relative body muscle mass did not depend on the intensive stage of training but males and females showed an increase tendency, resulting on a median 3.0% higher at the end of this study.