Why do people dance?

[pinkglitter12]

There wasnt a category for this to go in so apologies..
Ok i know I'm going to sound a little bit weird now, but its been bothering me.
Why when people hear music do they start waving their arms and legs around?
Is it a mating ritual still? Do people want to be admired for their dexterity?
Does dancing make people feel a certain way?
Why?

I dance and have a dog. They're both excellent for your health and wellbeing. A quick search will provide plenty of evidence why people benefit from both. Is it very hard for you to understand that people may like different things to you?

Thank you for explaining this in ways im obviously unable to x and its nice knowing im not alone.
I love music, lyrics, rhythms there are songs that I've listened to for years. If they started playing song i love I'll just listen and think and feel but never dancea

MN's version of Tell Me Why🤣

Oh, okay, I can partially answer that one. During the exchange of saliva, your body analyses the various components of the other person's chemistry: all sorts of things from hormones to immunity. It's an important part of mate selection.

Also, it feels nice - and the nicer it feels, the more you feel like having sex with them. It serves as a miniature test stage on the way to inserting more body parts and exchanging more fluids.

Wrt non-sexual kissing, not all societies do it but all have some sort of tradition involving putting heads close together. Probably something to do with exchanging scents and other biochemical clues again, though I've not seen research on that.

When I was secondary school age, I went through a phase of finding dance really odd and a bit embarrassing. Not just if I were dancing, but even when I watched professionals or saw photos of people dancing.

I got over this and now I wiggle around like I just don't care😁 It's one of the few forms of exercise that I enjoy.

Interesting and entertaining thread.

I keep thinking about people waving their legs around and it’s really making me giggle.

Dancing releases endorphins like any other exercise which makes us happy. It also makes us feel part of a group and helps us bond with others which releases other feel good chemicals and hormones.

So for most people dancing is a happy-making activity.

Here’s your answer according to AI:

The human brain reacts to music by dancing due to a fascinating interplay between rhythm, emotion, motor control, and reward systems. Here's a breakdown of the science behind it:

🧠 1. Rhythm Activates the Motor System

• When you hear a beat, even without consciously deciding to move, your motor cortex, cerebellum, and basal ganglia become active.
• These brain regions are involved in timing and movement coordination.
• This is why even babies bounce or sway to music—they’re neurologically wired to sync with rhythm.

🎵 Beat = Brain wants to move

😊 2. Music Triggers Emotion and Pleasure

• Music activates the limbic system (especially the amygdala and nucleus accumbens), releasing dopamine, the same neurotransmitter involved in pleasure and reward.
• When the beat hits just right, your brain experiences it as deeply satisfying—moving amplifies this pleasure.

🕺 Dancing = intensifying joy

🔁 3. Entrainment and Synchronization

• The brain loves predictable patterns, and music provides them.
• It tries to synchronize bodily motion with these patterns—this is called sensorimotor entrainment.
• Dancing becomes a way for your body to externalize internal rhythm tracking.

🧭 Your brain says: "I know when the next beat is coming—let’s match it!"

🧬 4. Evolutionary Roots

• Dancing might have evolved as a form of social bonding, mate attraction, and group coordination (think: tribal drumming, war chants).
• Shared movement to music enhances group cohesion and emotional connection—crucial for survival in early human societies.

👯 Dancing together = stronger tribe

🧒 5. It Starts Early

• Even infants as young as 5 months old respond rhythmically to music.
• This suggests a biological predisposition to dance—it’s not just cultural.

Hard disagree! If a man can't move his body in a rhythm, I don't want to have to sex with him 😂

Yes its innate and instinctive and my own theory, not sure if this is true, is that its about the fact that when in womb you're moving around with a rhythm of the mothers body, her heartbeat which has a regularity to it and thats why we move around when we hear music with a beat like that.

Dancing is stimming for non autistic people!

Ok. I was talking about me. I'm not trying to seduce anyone. That's not really an issue for me. Just having a dance.

Thats really interesting! Thank you! I wonder if thats why kissing gets less appealong the longer you've been with them?
Like i know this already? Nothing new here?

Weird question. Even more random than the dog thing. Are you feeling okay? Are you just bored today or what?

Because they are mostly emotionally stifled! Harry did get out on the end because he couldn't stay within the lines.

This has made me think of inbetweeners when Will is queueing outside the nightclub and talking to a girl “There's something very animalistic about our need to dance.” “Let us in we've got bloody great dancing ants in our pants!" 😅

Can't you tell the school holidays have started early for some?

Well, I love to listen to music, and some beats and rhythms get my toe tapping and arms moving - I rarely dance as such but I do like to feel the music. Nothing about anyone else, certainly not a ‘mating ritual’!!!

I have a toddler, they want to be admired for EVERYTHING! Mummy I just ate my apple! Mummy I just did a massive fart! Hahahahahha mummy mummy mummy!!!!!!!! I did a poop and i saved it for youuuu!! Heres my poop mummy!!!

Not sure what you'll make of this OP, but I often dance with one of my dogs.

Why do people reply to a perfectly interesting question by copy / pasting some crap from an LLM? If the OP wanted to get an AI answer, presumably she would have asked the AI. As things stand, she asked MN so let's infer she prefers human answers and honour that.

To me dancing is bloody weird, even the word.

Do I like music, I did and can play an instrument pretty bloody well and have played in bands, not interested in that now.

Still can’t get my head around dancing.

Same mine tap when excited and I tap with them, they never impressed 😂

Let people do what makes them happy,
I cant dance but i still do it.

For people who enjoy doing it it's because it makes them happy. I really enjoy a dance on my own while listening to music so it must release some happy hormone. However, when you look at it in the way an alien might when they first arrive on earth then it is really weird.