A biomechanical analysis of ballet dancers on pointe

Eight dancers from the Milwaukee Ballet Dance Company were examined using current human motion analysis techniques to study the biomechanics of motion during the pointe maneuver. In this maneuver the dancer lifts the heel completely off the floor until the weight is fully supported by the toes. A five-camera VICON (Oxford, UK) system with two AMTI (Newton, MA) forceplates and a ten channel EMG processor was used to record 3-D motion, muscular activity, and ground reaction force data. Preliminary results suggest similarities in motion and EMG patterns among the dancers despite variances in height, weight, and level of proficiency.<>