Dance reveals symmetry especially in young men

William M. Brown (), Lee Cronk, Keith Grochow, Amy Jacobson, C. Karen Liu, Zoran Popović and Robert Trivers
Additional contact information
William M. Brown: Rutgers University
Lee Cronk: Rutgers University
Keith Grochow: University of Washington
Amy Jacobson: Rutgers University
C. Karen Liu: University of Washington
Zoran Popović: University of Washington
Robert Trivers: Rutgers University

Nature, 2005, vol. 438, issue 7071, 1148-1150

Abstract: Fascinating rhythm Dance is a common part of human courtship. Is it just for fun or does it carry a hidden message? This question was tackled in a population — Jamaican — where dance is particularly important. One property that dance might reflect is bodily symmetry, often used in evolutionary studies to measure developmental stability and genetic quality. A study using motion capture cameras to create video images of the dancers reveals a strong link between symmetry and dancing ability. The effect is stronger for men than for women, and women rate dances by symmetrical men relatively more positively than do men. It works both ways; symmetrical men value symmetry in women dancers more highly than less symmetrical men. In Jamaica at least, it seems that dance is a factor in sexual selection and reveals important information about the dancer. Freeze-frame images on the cover (by William M. Brown) show a symmetrical male dancer in action.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04344 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:438:y:2005:i:7071:d:10.1038_nature04344

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature04344

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().