Visual availability, balance performance and movement complexity in dancers

•Studies regarding the complexity of postural sway show controversial results.•We study the differences in balance ability between dancer and non-dancer participants.•The dancers show greater balance ability only in the open eyes task.•The complexity of postural sway is greater for dancers in the open and closed eyes tasks.•Non-linear analysis methods allow differences to be explained between the participants.

Research regarding the complex fluctuations of postural sway in an upright standing posture has yielded controversial results about the relationship between complexity and the capacity of the system to generate adaptive responses. The aim of this study is to compare the performance and complexity of two groups with different levels of expertise in postural control during a balance task. We examined the balance ability and time varying (dynamic) characteristics in a group of 18 contemporary dancers and 30 non-dancers in different visual conditions. The task involved maintaining balance for 30 s on a stability platform with opened or closed eyes. The results showed that dancers exhibited greater balance ability only in open eyes task than non-dancers. We also observed a lower performance in both groups during the test with closed eyes, but only dancers reduced their complexity in closed eyes task. The main conclusion is that the greater postural control exhibited by dancers depends on the availability of visual information.