Competitions in jazz dance created huge improvements in physical condition of dancers. They improved as much in movement abilities as in aesthetic component. Flexibility became one of the key elements of a good performance. We were interested in the possibility of influencing the development of flexibility through a suitable program and training. We created a 12 - week program of developing flexibility which was based on the implementation of complete jazz trainings. In addition to the development of dance technique, we emphasized the development of flexibility in regular training. The research involved 12 dancers who were divided in 3 groups. Three of them trained once a week, five of them trained twice a week and four of them trained three times a week. The dancers were tested before the implementation of the program for the development of flexibility, and after the end, that is after 12 weeks. We used the following tests: twist, support, front split, left and right side split, forward bent sitting with legs apart and forward bent standing with legs together. In all tests, except for the twist, a statistically significant improvement was observed between initial and final testing. In the analysis of variance, the differences between the groups were statistically significant only in the case of the right side split test. It was also interesting that dancers who trained twice a week improved the most. Our 12 - week program has proven to be an effective tool for developing the flexibility of legs and pelvic ring.
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