Dance and Courtship
Dance has long been recognised as a way for prospective partners to select each other. Isadora Duncan said of dance that it needed 'the highest intelligence in the freest body'. Recent studies show how much can be conveyed by dance:
An article in Nature 'Dance reveals symmetry especially in young men' shows that dance in Jamaica seems to show evidence of sexual selection and to reveal important information about the dancer. Professor Lee Cronk at Rutgers says: "More symmetrical men put on a better show, and women notice." Symmetry is a strong indicator of fitness as it shows developmental stability.
A Swedish study shows that people who score high on intelligence tests are also good at keeping time.
Read more about this topic: Dance And Health
Famous quotes containing the words dance and, dance and/or courtship:
“Ask a wise man to dinner and he’ll upset everyone by his gloomy silence or tiresome questions. Invite him to a dance and you’ll have a camel prancing about. Haul him off to a public entertainment and his face will be enough to spoil the people’s entertainment.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“The city is all right. To live in one
Is to be civilized, stay up and read
Or sing and dance all night and see sunrise
By waiting up instead of getting up.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Reverence to a woman in courtship is less to be dispensed with, as, generally, there is but little of it shown afterwards.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)