Why do we dance?
For some people, they may have never thought to ask the question “why do we dance?” but as someone who truly feels compelled to dance when I hear music or sometimes even for no reason at all, I am immensely curious about why humans have the capacity and compulsion to dance. I once had a dance teacher explain to a class full of beginner dancers that dancing was just fancy walking. And funnily enough, one theory on why we dance is the thought that humans tend to prefer music that reflect natural rhythms such as our heart beat and walking. With that, when music has that such rhythm, people then want to mimic that rhythm through movement. In an article published by Frontiers for Young Minds, researchers stated “For example, clinically, we know that walking among patients with Parkinson’s disease improves dramatically by adding a metronome. Patients are able to better sync their movements when they could match a regular beat. Their strides lengthened and their gait improved.”
But that doesn’t fully explain why we feel the compulsion to dance, or at least for me it doesn’t. Because dancing isn’t just walking to a metronome. It includes jumping, grooving, turning, and all kinds of different movements. Also we can dance to all kinds of music and sounds or even no sound at all! One other vein of thought is that dance allows us to experience pleasure and creativity through movement the same way others do painting or writing poems. Following this same line of thought is that dance is a physical release of metaphysical ideas. This theory is based on the idea that dance is another form of expression and like all other art forms, gives us a vessel to express things that cannot be expressed any other way. Giving us the ability to express our inner selves externally or said another way, expressing ourselves through movement. The same way we kids throw themselves on the floor when sad or frustrated or jump and clap when we get excited or feel joy, dance allows us to put our thoughts and feelings into action.
Another compelling theory about why we dance is that is helps cement cultural bonds. In an article published by NYU , states “The natural impulse to dance may have existed in early primates before they evolved into humans. Dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations, and entertainment since before the birth of the earliest human civilizations. Archaeology delivers traces of dance from prehistoric times such as the 10,000-year-old Bhimbetka rock shelters paintings in India and Egyptian tomb depicting dancing figures from c. 3300 BC. Many contemporary dance forms can be traced back to historical, traditional, ceremonial and ethnic dances of the ancient period.” Dance is so often used in celebrations and rituals as a way to honor and celebrate the culture in which it is being performed. In modern times, we have even coined the term “cultural dance” to describe dance that is distinct to a specific culture and/or is done during traditional ceremonies or celebrations. These dances always reflect the values of the culture in which they are being performed in. I have often found that by learning and performing these dances, one is able to connect more to said culture, as so often they are asked to embody these cultural values in the dance. Therefore, there is an argument to be made that the reason a person dances is because by performing dances that have been passed down through generations, they are connecting to either their own or another culture.
I don’t want to be the person who writes an entire essay on trying to solve a question only to conclude without actually answering the question. Unfortunately, with questions as complex as “why do we dance”, it is kind of inevitable to have an open ended conclusion. But what I hope is that maybe by reading this, you might ask yourself the question to yourself… Why do you dance?
sources used in this article:
https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2021/october/why-do-humans-dance--new-research-fellowship-explores-the-evolut.html
https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2022.806631