Mating Dance

Men who wish to attract women on the dance floor would be better advised to learn a few moves that answer the female mating drive rather than bother with the moonwalk. Psychologists have identified the key male dance movements that most arouse female interest - and all are to do with the central body motions which send out primal signals of health, vigour and strength. A team led by Nick Neave of Northumbria University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England filmed 109 men aged 18 to 35 in a lab as they danced to a standard disco beat.

The men, none of whom was a professional dancer, wore reflective markers that studded their bodies and were filmed by a battery of twelve 3D cameras. The footage was used to create a dancing avatar, or animated figure, that was faceless and genderless. Thirty-seven young heterosexual women were then shown 15-second clips of the avatars and were asked to judge which of the dance movements were the most attractive. Eight "movement variables" emerged which distinguished the trolls from the Travoltas.

"Good" dancers did wider and bigger movements of the head, neck and torso, and did faster bending and twisting movements of their right knee (greater movements of the right knee rather than the left were to be expected, as 80% of the dancers favoured their right leg). In contrast, "bad" dancers tended to be stiff and plod - and throwing their arms around was no substitute for fast, variable movement of the central body region. "Men all over the world will be interested to know what moves they can throw to attract a woman" says Neave. (Source: AFP) ........