This Cecil assertion statement is so old (circa 1978) I am putting it in GQ for discussion as it’s not really a current subject of SD research, but mods move if you must.
According to a 24 year old Perfect Master statement a top level professional male dancer like Baryshnikov in his prime, can run, leap and clear 6 feet under his heels or his crotch with legs akimbo.
I revere Cecil but really have to say I have to find this extraordinarily difficult to believe. Is there some additional cite on this assertion?
Comments on Cecil’s columns, no matter how old, usually do best in CCC, unless the question is very peripheral to the topic of the column. I’ll move this over there.
After a little poking about, I agree it looks suss, but it depends what we’re measuring and that’s not entirely clear. It’s a very ugly looking link, but this](http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:2b73bFBRS_8C:[urlwww.its.caltech.edu/~oom/handouts/body.pdf+vertical+leap+record&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) suggests that 1.5m is “close to the world record” and that high jumpers, whilst jumping up to 2.45m raise their centre of mass by about 1.5m. 1.5m is 4.92 feet. Perhaps he flicked up his twinkling toes. Mind you Cecil’s casual estimate of 8 feet for high jump still looks pretty good (2.45m = 8.038 feet)
So where are we at this point re my OP? The assertion of a 6 foot leap by a dancer is something I find to be nigh impossible to believe. Is this a mistake by Cecil or is there some verification that a top flight dancer can leap and clear 6 feet in his routines ?
Okay, vertical leap is a measure of the height change. Vertical leaps for atheletes fall in the range of 30 to 40 inches (~ 76 - 102 cm). Google search says Michael Jordan has a vertical leap of 41 inches (104 cm). Okay, that’s the delta.
Now the baseline for a ballet dancer is his crotch. Assume an inseam of 30 in (76 cm), then add the delta of 30 in. That’s 60 in, or 5 feet. If Baryshnikov has an exceptional vertical leap of 40 in, then that puts him at 70 in (177.8 cm) - just 2 in short of the 6 ft mark. Doesn’t seem so impossible now, does it.
IIRC I read an article about when Bob Beeman <sp?> broke the long jump record in the Mexico City olympics, (granted a more intense effort than a single jump in a long dance), everything he had was at least 6 feet off the ground at the midpoint of his jump. There was even a diagram. It didn’t sound like this was unusual with world class long jumpers, though they did say the thin air had some positive effect.
Satch
More height info, here is a report of Boss Bailey, football player in Georgetown, setting a vertical jump record (for Georgetown football) from a STANDING two foot takeoff of 46 inches.