However, dance’s origin predates industries dedicated to culture, and the exact nature of dance’s utility in the evolutionary environment that allows it to persist into the present is uncertain (for extensive discussion concerning the cultural ubiquity of dance, see LaMothe, 2015). Stimuli in which all elements were synchronous, dancers and music, were rated highest and, in general, elicited greater pupil dilations.ĭance is integral to current performing arts and cultural industries worldwide, serving as both a source of entertainment and physical and emotional self-expression. While results were largely consistent with the hypothesis, the findings also indicated that interpersonal aesthetic appreciation was driven by a hierarchy of synchrony between the dancers: stimuli in which only one dancer was synchronous with the music were rated lower than stimuli in which the dancers were asynchronous with each other and with the music i.e., stimuli in which the dancers were unequal were judged less favorably than those in which the dancers were equal, albeit asynchronously. Participants’ pupil dilations and aesthetic appreciation of the dancing were recorded for each video, with the expectation that these measures would covary with levels of synchronization. In this dual-dancer study, individuals performed fast or slow hip-hop choreography to fast-, medium-, or slow-tempo music when paired laterally, this gave rise to split-screen video stimuli in which there were four basic categories of dancer and music synchrony: (1) synchronous dancers, synchronous music (2) synchronous dancers, asynchronous music (3) asynchronous dancers, one dancer synchronous with music and (4) asynchronous dancers, asynchronous music. In turn, it is assumed that this may have facilitated social bonding and therefore procreation between individuals within larger groups. This study investigated an evolutionary-adaptive explanation for the cultural ubiquity of choreographed synchronous dance: that it evolved to increase interpersonal aesthetic appreciation and/or attractiveness. 3McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.2Digital Music Lab, School of the Arts, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.Expert Interview.Colleen Tang Poy 1 Matthew H. This article has been viewed 622,754 times. This article has 16 testimonials from our readers, earning it our reader-approved status. WikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback.

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She is a member of the National Dance Council of America. She is ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing), ProDVIDA (Professional Dance Vision International Dance Association), and Zumba certified. She is also trained in house, hip-hop, jazz, ballet, and modern dance, and has studied with world renouned dancers such as Tom Slaterand Richard Lambarty. Val has over 23 years of dance instruction, performance, and choreography experience and specializes in ballroom, Latin, and swing dancing. Val Cunningham is a Choreographer, Lead Dance Instructor, and Certified Yoga Instructor at The Dance Loft, a dance studio based in San Francisco, California. This article was co-authored by Val Cunningham and by wikiHow staff writer, Amber Crain.

Choreography hip hop dance moves