Coordination modes in rhythmic whole-body movement

Abstract

This study investigated whole-body sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) in street dancers and non-dancers. Two kinds of knee bending movement in a standing position to a metronome beat were explored: down-movement condition (knee flexion on the beat) and up-movement condition (knee extension on the beat). Analyses of stability under different movement frequencies revealed that in both groups down-movement condition was performed more stably than up-movement condition, and that dancers performed both movement conditions more stably than non-dancers. These findings suggest that down and up movements are two distinguishable modes in the whole-body coordination, and that street dancers have superior whole-body SMS ability.