Aerobic and Anaerobic Fitness Levels of Pre-Professional Contemporary Dancers: An Exploration of 2 Dance-Specific Field Tests

Introduction: The primary aim of this study was to present descriptive heart rate (HR), heart rate recovery (HRR) and RPE data for the DAFT and HIDT within one sample of contemporary dance students. The second aim was to explore if objective (HR) and subjective (RPE) data were correlated between tests. Method: 40 (11 males, 29 females) university dance students with a mean age of 18.8 ± 1.8 years performed the DAFT and HIDT on 2 separate occasions within 1 week. Measurements were HR after 4 minutes in all stages of the DAFT, the percentage of age-predicted maximal HR (%HR _max) of all stages of the DAFT and at the end of the HIDT, and peak HR (HR _peak) at the end of both tests. Subjective ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and HR recovery after 1 minute of rest (HRR) were determined after the tests. Results: HR _peak of the DAFT and HIDT were 188.1 ± 11.0 and 185.3 ± 7.3 beats·min ⁻¹, respectively. There were high positive correlations between HR _peak of the HIDT and stages 3 to 5 of the DAFT (r = 0.716-0.740, all P-values <.01). HRR (r =.678, P <.01) and %HR _max (r =.746, P <.01) showed moderate to high correlations between the DAFT and HIDT. The anaerobic training zone was reached in stages 4 and 5 of the DAFT and at the end of the HIDT. The subjective RPE scores did not significantly correlate between DAFT and HIDT, neither with objective HR data. Conclusion: Although the DAFT and HIDT differ in intensity and work-to-rest ratio, there were high correlations between HR and HRR data of both tests and both tests reached intensities above the anaerobic threshold (%HR _max > 85%).