a long time ago in a small midwest town, anintrepid hero named kevin bacon taught a whole town how-ta cut loose… and kick off theirsunday shoes. but, did he actually make a difference intheir love lives? hey dancing queens, young and sweet thanksfor tuning into dnews. i'm mixmaster trace and this one is for allyou lovers out there.
clever ways to answer to a dance, movies, music videos, even classic jane austenstories all imply dance is essential for two people to have cake by the ocean. but is this for real? did dance evolve to be part of our matingrituals?
lots of animals use courtship displays anddances to attract mates. some scientists argue if you look at hunter-gatherersocieties you'd see dancing associated with fitness and sexiness. but that being said dancing is rare in theanimal world, scientifically speaking. by science's definition, dancing has to dowith synchronizing movements to a beat; it can't be a trained behavior, it has to bespontaneous! when willy and the poorboys are playin', youbring a nickel and tap your feet. no one told to do that, you just… do! and humans are in a small club of animalsthat can do this.
according to a study in frontiers in systemsneuroscience and a couple pieces in current biology, only species which can practice vocalimitation can learn to dance! so, that includes some species of parrot,some cockatoos, the california sea lion, and asian elephants… among others. all these animals can imitate and have allbeen observed "dancing" to a beat. not well… but they can. humans on the other hand, we're the dancingmachines of the animal kingdom! you might think peter, you suck, but trustme, you can dance. you're 9 ladies dancing and 10 lords-a-leapingabove animals … they are the loneliest number.
and that's good, according to a study in evolutionof human behavior, when humans synchronize our motions, it raises our pain thresholdby releasing endorphins -- feel good brain chemicals -- and this also encourages socialcloseness! this happens even without music… other researchhas been done with rowing teams! and a study from plos genetics even identifiedtwo genes associated with creative dancing and paired that with a need for social communication! but, just because you have a chance do yourdance at the space jam, doesn't mean something happened and you're head over heels, or thatyou're an mf starboy, amirite? or put another way, dancing doesn't automaticallyequal romancing…
music plays a big part too. tons of studies show listening to music triggersa flood of reward chemicals in the brain -- making us feel happy! and when it comes to mating, "music," arguesauthor daniel levitin, "would insinuate itself into the mind of a potential mate." implying this sick beat turns into a sexualearworm… so, putting all this together: music makesus feel good, synching behaviors makes us feel good and adds social closeness, and dancingis associated with sexiness and fitness… it seems like dancing to the music is a pleasuredouble-whammy!
if you can do that, you're well on your wayto the bedroom hymns. the problem here is no one knows why dancingmakes us feel this way, we just know it does. hopefully, we do more research on this becauseplease tell me something, i need answers man, i wish there was a "more research is neededsong…" special thanks to kay jewelers for sponsoringthis episode. for 100 years, every kiss begins with kay. all dancing and mating aside, do animals evenlike music? find out here.
how many song lyrics did you hear in thisvideo?
list them in the comments. make sure you subscribe and if the sun refusedto shine, i would still be loving you. thanks for watching.
