Dance and Evolution

Nearly every culture has some sort of dance tradition. Fast, slow, highly choreographed or free-forming, it’s a staple of human society. Despite this prevalence, it holds little survival advantage for us humans. This forms a good case for it being adaptive for other reasons, such as being sexually selected.

The complex movements and (in some cultures) requirements to match a rhythm display the dancer’s general health, overall nutrition, muscle coordination, creativity and cognitive processing capabilities. The act of dancing itself is energetically expensive, and getting good at it requires many hours of practice. Spending calories in this way is a sign that an individual has been well-nourished. In addition, the achievement of acquiring the skill suggests they are cognitively and physically talented as well.

In many cultures, both men and women dance, but the steps are usually significantly different. For men, dance movements typically emphasize power, strength, and speed. Two dances that have these elements are bhangra dancing of India/Pakistan and Hopak dancing of Ukraine, with their high stepping and low jumps. These dances emphasize a male’s overall physical health, coordination, and muscle development.

For women, dances are usually less focused on speed and strength, and more reliant on flexibility, coordination, and intricacy. Many moves and costuming are designed to highlight a woman’s hips, perhaps by extension demonstrate her fertility. Female dances such as Sega dancing of Mauritius and the dance of Fiji feature rapid hip movements, which show pelvic and hip strength, consistent with easier childbirth.

Research by Karl Grammer, Elisabeth Oberzaucher, Iris Holzleitner and Silke Atmaca at the University of Vienna has suggested that dance is central to mate choice and courtship behavior. And Peter Lovatt of the University of Hertfordshire has that found that hormones influence how men and women dance, and that the resulting moves communicate subtle mating signals. Men who are high in testosterone dance in larger formations and take up more space. Women who are ovulating are more likely to use moves that have a high hip-to-arm movement ratio, and men find these movements more attractive than others. That may be one reason that many people find belly dance so alluring, despite it having very few sexual movements .

In children, dancing is a way to demonstrate genetic fitness and viability. Young children who are coordinated and can dance well compete to prove that they are worthy of continued parental investment. Showing off to parents – and having parents show them off to friends – is a child’s bid to receive continued nurturing, food, and support. During difficult times, children who were more genetically fit were probably more likely to receive scarce resources and protection.

That dance is central to courtship and mating rituals is clear and evident. But that humans have evolved dance ability to test the genetic and physical fitness of potential partner s, and the viability of offspring, is perhaps less obvious to many.

REFERENCES

https://youtu.be/zuZbXTc9rSg?t=62

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv06zhA8gBs

https://youtu.be/SuEgznzsRR0?t=117