Why do we dance?

[Nelli]

Why is it that even the most lazy and non-athletic of us will still go go crazy and dance all night, when subjected to music that inspires us to. Without chemical assistance.... before you ask ;-) There must be something in the beat that makes us do this. Any ideas.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Actually, the thing about dancing all night is precisely about drugs! First of all, you need to understand that the concept of rhythm derived from one source, common to all humanity - the heart. If a beat is slower the heart (at rest) it will be slow and relaxing. If faster than the heartbeat, it will appear to be exciting. Now, when a person dances for a long time, the body releases endorphins into the brain - these are the natural painkillers and give a feeling of euphoria. Indeed, anthropologists believe that one of the key factors in human beings developing religion was that a primitive tribes associated music with their most important rituals - those designed to create a cohesion within the community. The resulting euphoria was thus seen as an experience generated by the function (rather than the biological reason of it being the dancing that was responsible) of the ceremony - hence religion. One of the odd things about dancing is that the taller you are, the slower the music you will enjoy. This is because the human body has an arc through which it likes to oscillate to a beat. The taller you are, the larger the arc becomes and hence slower music is preferred!

[Nelli]

Waldo that's fantastic!! I know that different parts of our body respond to different keys and tones in music, eg. much Sub-Bass effects people's sexual organs which could explain a lot. Thank you for your answer. It's amazing to think that I am not the only one who ponders these things on a Monday morning. Maybe it's the excessive amounts of coffee I've downed this morning ;-)

[fraserjim]

alcohol

[thoma?]

i've always thought tha music is almost like a performance enhancer to me.eg; i was recently skiing, and on the day i had my cd player on the slope, i was doing all sorts of crazy jumps, where as for the day when i did not, i was scared of what i did. at other time, music can completly calm me into a trance. mabey i'm just weird.