Dance anthropology or the anthropology of dance has typically focused on the study of dance in non-Western, nonindustrialized or nonliterate societies. The discipline has changed, however, not only in terms of the types of cultures and societies it concerns itself with, but also in terms of its perspective on the subject matter. Through a careful cross-national review of the research literature, it is suggested that there have been three developmental stages in dance anthropology. The first stage was period of establishment. Early anthropologists, such as E. B. Tylor referred to dance activity by the evolutionary framework of the 19th century. In the early 20th century, under the direction of F. Boas, anthropologists in the US studied Native American cultures including the types and functions of dance in that society. Also in this period, British anthropologists like A. R. Radcliffe-Brown made contributions to the understanding of the value of dance in society. The next stage was the period of development. The first full articulation of dance anthropology is found in Panorama of Dance Ethnology by 'the mother of dance ethnology', G. P. Kurath (1960). Kurath discussed dance ethnology from three main standpoints: 1) common problems of choreology and anthropology, 2) choreographic procedures, 3) practical considerations. During the 1970s, J. Kealiinohomoku, A. P. Royce, A. L. Kaeppler, J. L. Hanna pursued a more anthropologically-oriented direction. Their subdiscipline has been termed 'dance anthropology', rather than dance ethnology, because it was informed by and addressed to prevailing anthropological theory. These researchers have published many papers dealing with the theory and methods of dance methodology. The final stage was the period of expansion. In 1979 J. L. Hanna used V. Tuner's poststructuralist framework to analyze the Ubakala dance-plays as mediators of Paradox in Nigeria. In Japan, from the 1970s dance researchers interested in anthropology gathered and analyzed data about the functions and structures of dance in Asia and Africa.

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Maintenance of functional fitness is important for activities parallel to daily living (APDL) in older adults. The purpose of this study was to establish the functional fitness level sufficient for the achievement of APDL. For this purpose, the screening power of different thresholds of functional fitness score (FFS) was assessed using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. One hundred and ninety-two older community-dwelling women served as subjects (73.0±7.2yr). FFS was calculated using four functional fitness items (arm curl, walking around two cones, moving beans with chopsticks, functional reach) , and the level of achievement of APDL was evaluated by a questionnaire consisting of 16 questions. The sensitivity and false positivity rate of FFS as a screening threshold were analyzed within a cutoff range of -1.250 to 0.250, and the corresponding ROC curve was plotted to determine the threshold. The sensitivity ranged between 34.6% and 86.5%. The threshold showing the best equilibrium between sensitivity and specificity approached -0.375, where the sensitivity and false positivity rate were 63.6% and 3S.7%, respectively. When data from another questionnaire survey were analyzed to determine the criterion-related validity, a sensitivity of 61.9% and a false positivity rate of 32.2% were obtained. These results indicate that this threshold could provide useful information for the achievement of APDL.

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Motor ability tests based on pass-or-fail criteria (pass-or-fail tests) are used to assess proper motor development of infants or young children. Motor ability tests which employ CGS scales (CGS-scales tests) are also used for various age groups including young children. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the relationship between pass-or-fail tests and CGS-scales tests, which involve different scales. The relationship between 26 pass-or-fail tests and 6 CGS-scales tests were examined by canonical correlation analysis and principal component analysis with external criteria, for young children aged 3 to 6 yr. The results suggested that the relationship between them is high and unidimensional. In 26 pass-or-fail tests, 27.4% of the total variance could be explained by CGS-scales tests and 72.6% could not. The former, showing related variance, would be a unidimensional structure and the latter, showing unrelated variance, a multidimensional structure. The two types of tests have a tendency to show a lower correlation with increasing child age. This would indicate that the range of motor abilities which can be measured by both pass-or-fail and CGS-scales tests decreases with age.

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A longitudinal design was used to study the development of sprint performance in eight first-class male sprinters from the age of 12 to 15 years. Measurements were performed annually every November for sprint speed, step frequency, step length, sprint motion, and isokinetic peak torques during knee extension and flexion. Furthermore, attempts were made to analyze support time and non-support time, angular kinematics, and isokinetic peak torques at 60, 180, 300 deg/s. The results obtained were as follows : 1. At the ages of 12 and 13 years, mean values of body height and weight were larger for the subjects than for normal Japanese boys. However, at the last measurement at the age of 15 years, no differences were found between them. The skeletal age of the subjects was about 3 years more advanced than chronological age at 12 years. These data therefore, confirmed that the subjects showed an earlier growth spurt. 2. From 12 to 14 years of age, sprint speed increased significantly from 8.79 m/s to 9.61 m/s. From 12 to 13 years of age, step length increased significantly from 1.95 m to 2.08 m. However, no significant increases in step frequency were observed with age. From 12 to 13 years of age, the improvement of sprint speed resulted from the increase in step length rather than step frequency. 3. Significant increases were seen in maximal thigh lift velocity (ωT) from 12 to 14 years of age and in maximal leg swing velocity (ωL) from 12 to 13 years of age. However, no correlations were found between the increases in sprint speed and those of all sprint motions such as maximal leg swing velocity from 12 to 15 years of age. 4. From 12 to 13 years of age, isokinetic peak torques during knee flexion (angular velocity; 60, 180, 300 deg/s) showed significant increases. From 12 to 15 years of age, increases in sprint speed were significantly correlated with those of isokinetic peak torque during knee flexion at angular velocities of 180 and 300 deg/s. For all ages, significant partial correlations were found between sprint speed and isokinetic peak torque during knee flexion at angular velocities of 180 and 300 deg/s. 5. In spite of the fact that one subject (IK) showed better sprint performance than another subject (NI) at the age of 12 years, the latter subjects was able to perform better than the former at the age of 15 years. This change was due to the larger increase in body height and weight as well as the greater development of isokinetic peak torque during knee flexion in NI than in IK. 6. The relationship between the increase in sprint speed and skeletal maturity indicated that the increase in individuals who were skeletally immature after the age of 12 years were greater than those in individuals who matured early.

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