[TANGO-L] News Flash: Dancers are more desirable

[Evan Wallace <evan @TANGOING.COM>]

From the For-What-It's-Worth Department:

What makes dancers more desirable?
Symmetrical bodies play principal role, scientists say

Many people are attracted to hot dancers, and a new study suggests part of
the reason is because their bodies are more symmetrical than those of the
less coordinated.

The researchers found that men judged to be better dancers tended to have a
higher degree of body symmetry, a factor that has been linked to overall
attractiveness and health in other research.

The new study involved 183 Jamaican teenagers, ranging between 14 and 19
years old, who danced while their movements were recorded using
motion-capture cameras similar to those used in video games and movies to
give computer-generated characters fluid movements.

Women watching the recordings preferred the dances of men who were more
symmetrical, while men were more impressed by the dances of more symmetric
females.

Women are pickier
Interestingly, the male preference for symmetric females was not as strong
as that of the female preference for symmetric males. This seems to confirm
the theory that women are pickier when selecting a mate, since they bear
most of the burden of raising a child, the researchers say.

According to the researchers, their study is the first of its type.

Regular videotape or film can't separate the dance from what the people look
like, said study member Lee Cronk, an anthropologist at Rutgers University
in New Jersey. "With motion capture, we can do that and get just pure dance
movements."

All of us have asymmetries in our bodies. The index finger on one hand might
be longer than the other, for example, or the left foot may be slightly
larger than the right. Researchers call these fluctuating asymmetries, or
FA.

According to one hypothesis, FA is an indicator of an individual's ability
to cope with the stresses and pressures associated with body development.

"As you're developing, all sorts of things come at you, like diseases and
injury," Cronk told LiveScience. "If you're able to develop symmetry despite
all of that, then that would indicate to others that you have what it takes
to make a go of it in that environment."

Body advertising
A high degree of body symmetry serves as a subtle advertisement of genetic
quality and health, the thinking goes.

While most people don't go around measuring and comparing body parts of
potential mates, it's thought that we pick up on these cues subconsciously.
The idea that there is an association between body symmetry and health comes
from various animal and human studies. Pea hens and barn swallows prefer
males with more symmetrical tails. One study found that women experience
more orgasms during sex with male partners whose features are more
symmetrical, regardless of the level of romantic attachment or the sexual
experience of the guy.

What's any of this got to do with dancing?

The researchers speculate that higher body symmetry might also indicate
better neuromuscular coordination. This may influence dance ability, because
attractive dances can be more rhythmic and more difficult to perform.

The study, led by William Brown of Rutgers, was detailed in Thursday's issue
of the journal Nature.

(From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10561755/from/RS.1)

Evan Wallace
Seattle

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