EFFECT OF A CORE STABILIZATION TRAINING PROGRAM ON PERFORMANCE OF BALLET AND MODERN DANCERS TUGCE KALAYCIOGLU, 1 NIKOS C. APOSTOLOPOULOS, 2 SELCUK GOLDERE, 3 TULIN DUGER, 4 AND GUL BALTACI 5 1 Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University, Morphou, North Cyprus; 2 Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 3 Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, Ankara, Turkey; 4 Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey; 5 Private Ankara Guven Hospital, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Kavaklidere, Turkey ABSTRACT Kalaycioglu, T, Apostolopoulos, NC, Goldere, S, Duger, T, and Baltaci, G. Effect of a core stabilization training program on performance of ballet and modern dancers. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000–000, 2018—The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a core stabilization training (CST) program on performance of university-level ballet and modern dancers. Twenty-four dancers between the ages of 18 and 24 years participated in the study. Core stabilization training was performed for 45–60 minutes per day, 3 days a week, for 8 weeks. For 2 days, the training was conducted by an experienced physiotherapist, and the other day, each participant exercised on his or her own. Evaluation of physical fitness parameters included vertical jump performance, flexibility, dynamic balance, coordina- tion, proprioception, muscle, and hip flexion isokinetic strength measures. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare pre- and post-test values. Statistically significant increases in vertical jump performance, dynamic balance, proprioception, and coordination parameters between pre- and post-training (p , 0.05) were observed. After the CST program, peak torque values for the hip flexor muscle iso- kinetic test of the dancers decreased (p , 0.05). Therefore, the results suggest that the CST program might be used to improve several physical fitness parameters such as jump- ing, proprioception, coordination, and dynamic balance. Such improvements will aid in the development of artistic skills for university modern dancers. KEY WORDS dance, proprioception, vertical jump, core stability, coordination INTRODUCTION D ance lies between sport and artistic expression; it is an amalgamation of aesthetics and physical performance. Dancers are artistic athletes requiring high levels of fitness to perform their dance moves and routines. However, the literature suggests that these individuals are less fit compared to other athletes with regard to muscle strength, endurance, and jump per- formance (3,5). Core stabilization refers to the ability to control the position of the body to achieve a proximal stability ensuring the transfer and control of force to the distal segments of the body for optimum force production (19,22). In recent years, core stabi- lization training (CST) has become a very popular effective method to improve physical fitness parameters such as endur- ance, strength, power, balance, and flexibility (16,18,31,41,45,46). It has been suggested that CST can prevent both lower-back and extremity injuries for people, especially athletes (20,18,31). Poor stability on dancers causes compensa- tory biomechanical changes at the trunk indirectly affecting their lower extremities, resulting in impairment of force pro- duction and injury (39). Strong muscles around the hip, pelvis, and trunk are important in ballet students for stability, balance, muscle coordination when performing at the barre, and com- plex movement during the center (24). Although lack of evi- dence exists for core strengthening in dancers, research has observed that CST training improved technical and aesthetic performance, flexibility, body alignment, supine jump height, and muscular strength in dancers (4,11,12,27). Numerous years of dance training is responsible for an inherent development and increase in a high level of flexibility in passive hip external rotation, abduction, and Address correspondence to Dr. Tugce Kalaycioglu, pt. tugcekalaycioglu@gmail.com. 00(00)/1–10 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Ó 2018 National Strength and Conditioning Association VOLUME 00 | NUMBER 00 | MONTH 2018 | 1 Copyright ª 2018 National Strength and Conditioning Association