Physiological characteristics of musical theatre performers and the effect on cardiorespiratory demand whilst singing and dancing
Abstract
Musical Theatre (MT) combines acting, singing and dancing within a performance. The purpose of the current study was two-fold; firstly, to report on the cardiorespiratory fitness of pre-professional MT dancers and secondly, to examine the cardiorespiratory demand of singing whilst dancing. Twenty-one participants (F=16, M=5; 20 ±1.23 yrs; 169.1 ±9.24cm; 62.7 ±10.56kg) in their final year of pre-professional training volunteered for the study. All participants carried a maximal aerobic capacity test on a treadmill using a portable breath-by-breath gas analyser. Nine participants completed a 4-minute section from Chorus Line twice; singing and dancing, and just dancing, in a randomised order whilst wearing the same portable gas analyser. Blood lactate was measured at the end of each trial. Male participants had significantly greater peak oxygen consumption (M vs. F; 67.6 ±2.30 vs. 55.6 ±4.42 ml.kg-1 .min-1 , p<0.001) and anaerobic threshold (% of peak VO2) (M vs. F; 54.6 ±4.04% vs. 43.1 ±3.68% p<0.001) whilst maximum heart rate and heart rate at anaerobic threshold were similar. The physiological demands of dancing vs. singing+dancing were similar with the exception of the singing+dancing trial having significantly reduced mean breathing frequency and increased lactate (p<0.01). MT dancers’ aerobic capacity is greater than that observed in other theatre-based dance genres. The observed breathing frequency and lactate differences in the Chorus-line trails could be due to singing reducing breathing frequency thereby influencing cardiorespiratory recovery mechanics and subsequently blood lactate levels.Citation
Wyon, M. and Stephens, N. (2019) Physiological characteristics of musical theatre performers and the effect on cardiorespiratory demand whilst singing and dancing, Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 35(1), pp. 54-58. https://doi.org/10.21091/mppa.2020.1007Publisher
Science & Medicine, Inc.Journal
Medical Problems of Performing ArtistsAdditional Links
https://www.sciandmed.com/mppa/Type
Journal articleLanguage
enDescription
This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Science & Medicine, Inc. in Medical Problems of Performing Artists on 01/03/2020, available online: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/scimed/mppa/2020/00000035/00000001/art00007 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.ISSN
0885-1158ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.21091/mppa.2020.1007
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/