The Influence of Ballet Training on Somatic and Coordination Differentiation in 11-15-Year Old Girls

The main aim of this work is the evaluation of increased amount of specific movement activity on variability of somatic features and the level of coordination of ballet school students in comparison to control group of the same age. The hypothesis that female students from ballet school would show higher level of coordination in comparison to control ones, what is the effect of introductory selection and directed stimulation was formulated. It was also assumed, that the level of differentiation is different in specific abilities and grows at different degree in dependence to trainability (reactivity). The research was conducted on 184 girls aged from 11 to 15 years from Public Ballet School in Bytom, as well as the Elementary School nr 5 in Katowice. The research protocol included body height and mass measurements and coordination field, laboratory and computer tests (Viener Test System – VST). At the first stage test battery included 38 tests diagnosing 8 specific coordination abilities. In light of factor analysis calculated on normalized values it was reduced to 16 most informative tests. They characterize 5 specific coordination abilities. There were not extracted factors which were assumed to diagnose: space orientation, movement frequency and motor adjustment.