Rotational Movement of the Upper Limbs Associated with the Aesthetic Appreciation of Ballet

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the structure of upper limb movements in ballet dancers that affect the audience’s perception of the aesthetics and to examine if upper limb rotational movement is a factor contributing to the aesthetics of ballet. METHODS: This study comprised 3-dimensional movement analysis and subjective evaluation of 12 female ballet dancers. Thirty-three reflective markers were affixed to their bodies. Their upper limb movements, which are bodily expressions mimicking a swan’s flapping movement, were captured and viewed by 34 observers with previous ballet experience (i.e., university students majoring in dance education). The joint angle and velocity of each body part were calculated from the coordinates of the markers. The observers subjectively evaluated the videos through four pairs of categories: “beautiful–ugly,” “like–dislike,” “interesting–not interesting,” and “good–bad,” on a five-point semantic differential scale. Two groups were extracted based on the “beautiful–ugly” rating and compared using an independent t-test. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the kinematic parameters that showed significant differences. RESULTS: Five factors were identified: amplitude of rotational movement, speed of upward arm movement, amplitude of movement in the distal upper limbs, apparent speed of the downward arm movement, and speed of the internal rotation movement. CONCLUSION: The results supported the hypothesis that rotational movement of the upper limbs is a factor contributing to the aesthetics of upper limb movements in ballet and will be useful for understanding the intrinsic aesthetics of upper limb movements in ballet.