SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the everybody-look-at-your-hands dept.
Papas Fritas writes:
The Washington Post reports that a group of evolutionary biologists have looked at the science of bump and grind, and say they have figured out exactly which dance movements catch a woman's eye. Researchers set up the experiment as follows: they recruited 30 men to dance to a core drum beat for 30 seconds. The dancers were given no specific instructions on how to dance beforehand, and their movements were recorded via a sophisticated motion-capture system. Each dancer's 30-second routine was then used to animate a "featureless, gender-neutral" computer-generated avatar. Researchers then asked 37 women to view each of the dancing avatars and rate their performance on a seven-point scale.
The results: Women rated dancers higher when they showed larger and more variable movements of the head, neck and torso (PDF). Speed of leg movements mattered too, particularly bending and twisting of the right knee. Going beyond the dance floor, these findings could demonstrate that men's dance moves could carry "honest signals of traits such as health, fitness, genetic quality and developmental history." No word yet on whether similar findings hold true for men's assessments of women's dancing ability as an indication of their genetic quality and fitness.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday March 26 2014, @01:42PM
Its interesting that this turned into a big social anxiety discussion. I'm cool with doing stuff in public, presentations, speeches, debates, whatever. For me its coordination. Wiggle around, not at your pace but more or less with the music, while not falling down. Yeah right as if I'm ever going to accomplish that without falling down.
I can do aerobics and tai chi and "just dance" copycat games because obviously the instructor isn't falling over so if I copy them very carefully then I'm all good. Often I lose my balance, but not too bad. But this freeform "just wiggle around" is not happening. And that would be bad by myself, but now dark floor with lots of people bumping into me and probably had a bit to drink nope nope nope.
I imagine its a lot like "yo, here's the language reference manual, now knock out some code". That's how I learned C in the 80s, right outta edition 1 K+R. I'll just improvise something on the fly with some hints no problemo. I understand most people cannot do that with coding, and I'm like that with coordination or dancing in specific.
Oh a better analogy, its like telling a non-gymnast to just grab those ring things and flail themselves around, or just fling yourself around those metal bars.
I always had the impression my fellow wall flowers were primarily uncoordinated. It may very well be that many actual wall flowers are in fact uncoordinated but dancers think the wall flowers have an anxiety thing. There is probably some truth to it in that if someone bugged the heck out of me to dance depending on ethanol content and mood I might ignore them, or tell them to F off, or perhaps get really anxious about the whole falling down thing. Or I'd like to tell them to F off but the more polite response might vaguely resemble being anxious. Or being anxious about trying to think of a polite way to tell them to F off.
I did LOL at the guy who compared it to telling clinically depressed people to cheer up. Hey you, uncoordinated guy, all you gotta do is be coordinated, then its all good! Yeah, uh, thanks.
(Score: 2) by SleazyRidr on Wednesday March 26 2014, @02:39PM
I'll let you in on a secret: none of us are actually particularly good at dancing. Sure if you go to a country-western bar you need to know the moves to the 2-step, but most clubs no one gives a shit. If you fall down people will just think that you're drunk and they won't care because they're drunk too!
Also; I see the /. tradition of not reading the article has transferred across to here. Nowhere in the study does it say that you have to be coordinated. "Larger and more variable movements of the head, neck and torso." Can you move those three body parts? If you can, go do it! If not, go to the hospital as you need help.
Final comment: urza9814 mentioned in a sister post to yours that he could never get into dancing at clubs playing top40 music but then he found punk/metal clubs where he felt a lot more into the music and dancing came more naturally. Maybe you could try going to a few different places and see if any of them feel more comfortable to you.
(Score: 1) by Taibhsear on Wednesday March 26 2014, @03:14PM
Said no bouncer ever.
(Score: 2) by SleazyRidr on Wednesday March 26 2014, @07:19PM
They don't kick people out for being drunk. They kick people out for being violent or obnoxious. For all the stories I've heard of people being kicked out for "no good reason" I've never seen someone get kicked out of a bar who wasn't one of those two; and I've been in a lot of bars.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:32PM
For me it's a matter or being contrary to my brain function. I'm a fairly logical person, and used to be a moderately component martial artist, so I'm accustomed to moving my body in the most efficient way I can to achieve my objective. Dancing is kind of the opposite of that.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:53PM
*competent! Durn spellchecker...
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by hatta on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:37PM
Wiggle around, not at your pace but more or less with the music, while not falling down. Yeah right as if I'm ever going to accomplish that without falling down.
Start slow and work your way up. Like I said above, gently bounce your hips in rhythm with the music. Slightly increase amplitude when the music makes you want to move a little more. Coordination has very little to do with it.
I can do aerobics and tai chi and "just dance" copycat games because obviously the instructor isn't falling over so if I copy them very carefully then I'm all good.
I'm the opposite. I can't do DDR at all. When I took martial arts, I had to watch forms over and over again before I got it.