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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: 2) by hatta on Wednesday March 26 2014, @06:46PM
You have no interest in dancing because you don't know how euphoric it can be.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 27 2014, @12:57AM
you don't know how euphoric it can be
Amen.
Center of balance, torque moments, angular momentum, bias pressure--all the stuff you encountered in Physics class (and which make the physical world work) are applicable in dancing.
There are lots of "nerds" who dig dancing and can view it as applied science.
Now, that last item on my list refers to dancing **with a partner** (and actually TOUCHING your partner).
That's the only kind of dancing that ever interested me.
(It adds a whole nuther layer to "euphoric".)
If you go to the right club(s), the only opening line you need is "Wanna dance?".
Leading your partner into a move [ethicaldeal.com] and seeing what she makes out of your lead [pinimg.com][1] can be a rush.
Your subsequent lead is response to what she has done and that reaction can also give her a rush.
It's a conversation without needing any words.
You can also think of it as a bunch of conditional branches.
Don't know how to dance?
How many skills that you now have can you say that about? (I don't see a clean way to not end that with a preposition.)
How many of those acquired skills involved formal training?
There are dance studios, nightclubs that offer lessons, community centers, and college extension courses.
To have fun, learn to dance. [ithacaswingdance.com]
Get out and get dancing. [danasolimando.com]
Seriously. [bigdeal.sg]
You can thank me later for the great advice. [chicagorebels.net]
[1] Note: I don't like the way his arm is just dangling by his side; lousy form.
-- gewg_